Through The Eyes of Legends
by ComixFan1224
Summary: A few miles north of Jump City California, there's a school hidden away from prying eyes in the forests. Students are not only taught general studies, they are trained to be superheroes. Handpicked by the Headmaster, the best are a group called Titans! AU
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters. The plot is my own.

This story is set in an _alternate universe_.

This chapter is set in Kory Anders (Starfire's) POV.

Summary: A few miles north of Jump City California, there's a school hidden away from prying eyes in the forests. Students are not only taught general studies, they are trained to be superheroes. Handpicked by the Headmaster, the best are a group called Titans and these are their tales!

Prologue

What is a Titan?

That was the first question I asked when I arrived on this wonderful world at the tender age of thirteen. Taken from my ship, originally by the United States government, before being blindfolded and knocked out and waking up in a warm bed with the sun shining through the large windows, rejuvenating me. I was frightened when I heard the door open and saw two figures standing in the doorway, one much larger than the other. My hands and eyes had lit up almost immediately, a defense mechanism that had recently allowed me to escape my captors in deep space.

The larger man's body only seemed to shine in the light and when he put up his hands the silver metal reflected the sunlight back into my eyes causing me to lose focus, while the dark-haired boy beside him spoke softly to try and calm me down.

Dick Grayson and Victor Stone. Those were the names of my first friends here at The T, a hidden training and learning facility in upstate California. To put it mildly, it's a school for superheroes. Privately funded, children with powers, high IQ's, and a high level of athleticism are chosen to come to this very private and well hidden school and train until the age of twenty-two before they can officially graduate. Everyone is chosen for different reasons and if you are not a metahuman, it is much harder to get in, but those who are accepted and brought here have been very successful. And the ones born without powers are usually orphans who have no other family to take them into their own homes.

When I arrived, I was only the third student and the purpose of this school intrigued me greatly. It was a place where I could learn to control my newly acquired powers and more about the world I was now living on. But the first question I had asked Dick and Vic after they had finished explaining these things to me was what is a Titan. It was a word they had mentioned toward the end of the hours long conversation and yet, neither of them knew what that meant.

What is a Titan?

It was another two years before the three of us had really figured it out. When Dick and I were fifteen and Vic was eighteen and Donna Troy and Wally West had joined us at the school.

A Titan is a member of the Titans and the Titans are a family. A group of students handpicked by our school's headmaster that work together to protect, so far, the states of California, Washington, New Mexico and Arizona while working under secret identities. Since then, our family has expanded to include Gar Logan, Rachel Roth, Roy Harper, Garth, and Karen Beecher. We all have different powers, clashing personalities, and different fields of expertise, but we all get along very well.

And my name? It's Kory Anders. Today is the day I consider my seventeenth birthday, the day that marks the fourth year of my arrival at the T, and I'm sitting at the back of my advanced calculus class wondering how life could get any better than this. I'm the superhero Starfire, I've got the best friends anyone could ever ask for, and my communicator just went off!

I pull it out of my jeans pocket and smile before glancing over at Donna and Dick. Jump City, here we come!

A/N: This series will be different from my still ongoing Titans series and I promise, chapters do get longer! There will be action and the romance will be picked up a lot sooner than in my Titans series (good news for all you Rob/Star shippers)! Also, each arc will be set in one of the Titans POV's, though I may get away from that once and a while to try something new. The arcs will be set in the different Titans' POV's to move the story along through their eyes and get a better sense of what they're feeling. I would also like to say that this story is _not_ connected with any of my other stories! You do not have to read any of my other stories to understand whatever happens in this one! I just wanted to make that clear since most of my stories actually are.

I hope you enjoyed the prologue. Please review and let me know what you thought!


	2. Returning Home? Part I

Disclaimer: See chapter one.

This chapter is set in Kory's (Starfire's) POV.

Returning Home? Part I

"Check out the new gear the school ordered for us?" Gar shouted as he entered while trying to balance three large boxes. "We're practically merchandising now! T-shirts, jackets, shorts, pants, and they even got sneakers and training shoes in colors that match our uniforms!"

Rachel leaned close to me and muttered, "Oh joy! Now we just need a theme song."

"Wow Gar, now we just need to talk the headmaster into hiring a superstar producer to write us a theme song and some awesome band to sing it," Wally suggested aloud with a wide grin as he took the last box from Gar's hands. Our green skinned friend's face lit up at the idea and I giggled while Rachel rolled her eyes and stood. She smacked Wally lightly across the back of his head as she passed.

"I was being sarcastic, speedster."

Everyone in the common room began to laugh as I stood and walked over to the table, standing between Wally and Roy as we opened the boxes.

"Damn, these jackets are pretty sweet," I heard Roy say and looked to my left to see the red leather jacket with gold trimming in his hands, a gold arrowhead on the back and a round black patch about two to two and a half inches wide with a silver T in the center of it on the right sleeve.

I let out a low whistle and reached over to take a closer look. He handed it over before reaching back into the box.

Gar and Rachel are the youngest Titans in our group. They are both fourteen and were picked to join our team specifically because of their powers, but have come to fit in quite well with the rest of us. Wally is our local speedster, the fastest boy alive, and a year younger than Roy and I. He and Gar certainly seemed very happy with their own jackets as well.

"I'm really digging the black with the purple tiger stripes on the back," Gar told us with one of his wide, toothy smiles as he slipped the jacket over his shoulders.

"Until you have to transform in it and completely destroy the material, just like all of your other jackets," Rachel reminded him as the box in front of Roy and I became enveloped in black energy and was floated over to an empty chair so Rachel could grab her book bag.

"Hey Rachel, yours looks really cool when it's zipped up," Wally stated, holding the jacket up for us all to see the large black raven on the front, with it's wings shown on the sleeves, ending at the cuffs.

"That looks awesome, Rae. I hope you at least plan on wearing this at least once," I told her as she slipped her book bag over her shoulder and started for the door.

"If one of you could just leave it outside my door, I'd appreciate it. I have to get to my physics class," she waved off my comment, not even taking a second glance back at the four of us.

"Physics doesn't start for another fifteen minutes," Gar called out after her.

"No, five minutes. Check your watch once in a while, Gar."

We laughed as Gar's eyes widened comically when he looked up at the large clock hanging over the entrance to the common room.

"Dammit! I completely forgot! And I still haven't even touched my physics homework."

"Way to use your study period wisely, Gar," Roy mocked him lightly.

"He wouldn't be Gar if he did that, Roy," I replied in Gar's defense before glancing at Gar then back at the clock. "You keep staring at that like a deer in the headlights, you'll never get there, buddy."

Gar physically flinched back as my words pulled him from his reverie and back to earth. He cursed under his breath before racing out of the room, his new jacket held tightly in his left hand.

"Hey, here's your jacket, Kory. The purple flames on the black sleeves look really nice," Wally told me as he handed me my new jacket. I glanced at the jacket, my eyes immediately going to the same black T patch that was on Roy, Gar, and Rachel's own, before my eyes went to the name stitched on the left side of the chest in black thread. _Starfire_.

I set it down on the empty chair beside me before reaching inside the box to find Donna's new jacket. I hadn't seen her or Dick since we got back from Jump an hour ago. That fight with Cinderblock went by pretty quickly. Didn't even have much cleanup to do.

When I found her red and blue jacket I pulled it out and laid it by mine before taking out and sorting through the rest of the new training clothes and jackets the school had bought us so it would be easier to bring them up to the rooms. When I was finished, I looked over at Roy and Wally, who hadn't even waited to show off their new jackets to some of the girls that had entered the common room at some point. Rolling my eyes, I picked up one of the boxes full of the guys stuff with one hand and walked over to them.

Stepping between them and the girls, I pushed the box into Wally's chest and told Roy with a smile, "Since you both have enough time to flirt, then you both have enough time to drop all this stuff off at your dorms. I helped you out by sorting everything in the boxes together so neither of you can try using this as an excuse to be late for class."

"Way to make your birthday feel special for us," Wally muttered with a smile. I ruffled his short red mop top before walking back to the table to grab the box I had filled with Rachel and Karen's things with the other holding mine and Donna's.

I knew the moment I left the room on my way toward the girls second floor dorms at the top of the T, Wally would race out of the room with the box and be back with it empty in about two seconds. Maybe less if, he wanted. But he'll wait a few extra minutes. At least until I'm up the stairs so I can't hear him or feel the trail of wind he leaves because of his speed.

"Hey Kory! Where are you going?"

I turned my head from the entranceway of the common room to the top of the stairs where my roommate, Donna Troy, stood staring down at me quizzically.

"Just bringing the new gear up," I informed her as my feet left the stairs and I floated the rest of the way up. "You mind stopping by our room and putting this stuff away? I still have to stop by Rachel and Karen's rooms before European History starts."

She reached out and grabbed the box in my right hand. "Yeah, it's no problem," Donna assured me as she turned and we both began walking down the long hallway.

"So I was thinking of heading back into the city after classes for dinner. You want to come in with me or meet up somewhere later?" I asked her as we took a right at the end of the hall toward the girl's dorms.

"Oh, I can't after classes. Wally, Vic, and I are scheduled for a training room session for two and a half hours. We could probably meet up with you around seven or seven-thirty."

"That's fine. Pizza and pasta tonight. Make sure you tell 'em."

She grinned before I stopped in front of Karen's room and she continued on down the hall. I knocked on the door and waited a moment in case Karen or her roommate was inside before I punched in their password on the keypad on the wall beside the door.

Wow, does Bee have a messy roommate. No wonder I never come in here that often. Have a thirteen-year-old stay with a nineteen-year-old and this is what you usually get. Well at least it's not Gar and Wally's room!

Walking around the numerous clothes strewn across the floor, I made it to Karen's bed safely and set the box on it. After pulling out her things and setting them at the center of her well-made bed, I lifted the box, now with only Rachel's things left inside, and floated off the ground and swiftly out of the room. When I closed the door with a sharp click, my feet touched back down to the wood floor and I continued five doors down the hall until I was standing in front of Rachel's room.

As I raised my hand to knock on the door, it swung open quickly and Tula, Garth's girlfriend of two years, stepped out and right into me before stumbling back when I didn't budge.

"Oh! I'm sorry Kory! I was kind of caught in my own little world there," she apologized as I stepped aside to let her pass.

"It's okay, I just came by to drop this off for Rachel. I wasn't expecting you to come out so quickly," I replied as she held open the door for me to go through.

"Have a test I've got to get to. I'll see you around!"

"Later!" I called after her, pulling out my communicator to check the time. Crap! European History starts in five minutes and I still have to get my book! I walked quickly over to Rachel's bed and set the box down beside it before pulling out my cell phone to call Dick.

"Hey birthday girl," I heard him answer and couldn't help the small smile that made it's way across my face at the sound of his voice.

"Hi Dick. Where are you right now?"

"On my way to history. What's up?"

"Are you anywhere near the common room? I left my book on the couch and I'm already on the other side of the building."

"Don't worry 'bout it. Wally left you book with me when he dropped off my new training clothes and jacket. Just fly over and it'll be at your desk by the time you get here."

"Thanks so much! Remind me to thank Wally, too. I'll be there in no time."

I heard him chuckle for a second before he hung up. I flipped my own phone closed and slid open the window to the room and flew out into the open air. Closing it, I smiled up to the sky, the now few rays of sunlight recharging my powers as I flew high above the T-shaped three story building.

I remember the original designs Vic had shown me for it a few years ago. Originally, it was supposed to be standing on its base with the top high above the trees, almost like a lookout tower. Instead, if you're on the ground level, you really can't tell its shape, but from a Birdseye view, it is very easy to see the symmetrical shape that lay flat on the ground. There were a few smaller buildings surrounding it. Two houses for science labs and three for training areas, which doubled as gym classes. A large lake was at the north side of the T full of fresh water, which Tula and Garth needed to swim in at least twice daily if they were going to survive out here. Unfortunately, or fortunately in some students opinion, a few pipes had burst in our history class earlier this week, and so the class had been moved to Science Arts House Two.

I touched down outside the building with a minute to spare and raced up the stairs just as the clouds began to darken outside. I smiled as I wrapped my right hand around the first pole at the top of the stairs, forcing my momentum to the still open door on my right and skidded to a halt in front of the class just as the bell lone bell inside the room rang.

Roy and Donna were laughing silently in their seats as I made my way to my seat at the back, left corner of the class. Dr. Chase was probably glaring at my back as my classmates tried to control their so far silent laughter. Dick smirked at me as I passed his seat and traveled two desks further before silently slipping into my own desk, my book lying right at the center just as Dick promised.

"Now that we are all seated," Dr. Chase started, a stiff glare still aimed in my direction, "I would like everyone to open their books to page one hundred and twenty-three and silently read the three paragraph passage on Joseph Stalin. You have ten minutes before we begin our discussion."

I lazily flipped open the cover as my eyes glanced out the window. The sky had gotten even greyer since I had landed. I smiled at the thought of the cool rain that was about to fall. While it's true that I enjoy bright sunny days as much as almost everyone at this school, I also enjoy when it rains or snows. Sometimes I'll sit up on the roof and just watch in curious wonder as these different, yet very similar forms of precipitation fall around me, though I long ago learned the how and why.

I glanced back down at my book; I was only about eleven pages away from page one hundred and twenty-three when I noticed something had been left between two pages from the rise in the paper. Glancing up I saw Dr. Chase staring at the computer at his desk and I flipped the pages quickly to see a folded sheet of lined paper between pages one hundred and twenty-two and one hundred and twenty-three. Looking up again, I unfolded the sheet of paper once I was sure the coast was clear.

_Garage after class._

I smiled before folding it back up and slipping it under my book.

The fifty minute period just seemed to drone on from there, with each second ticking by slowly as I tried to concentrate on Stalin's rise to power, only for my eyes to drift up to the clock above the door time and time again.

I still needed to run back to the dorms and grab my sunglasses. My eyes are very unique, in that my iris of my eyes are emerald green, but the sclera is also green, though a few shades lighter and so, when I am not on a Titans mission and just blending in, I must always wear a pair of dark sunglasses to cover my eyes so as not to scare anyone. Or leave the boys in hysterics as they pick me up from the local hospital again as Vic had to do when I had lost my sunglasses a few years ago. Luckily, that was before the Titans had been officially formed so the few people who did send and checked out my eyes at the hospital could not connect that Starfire and Kory Anders are one and the same.

Since almost everyone in this school is connected to each other on some level, it makes sense for everyone to respect each other by keeping up the appearances of secret identities. That way, if someone had decided to forgo becoming a superhero and live a normal life at some point, they could not be connected with the rest of us and vice versa. Which makes perfect sense. That person would not go around revealing our secrets, so why would we purposely go around and reveal theirs if that is not what they wish. It creates a level of trust and respect, both of which are honors that should be held very high.

The bell finally rang and I scooped up my book, being careful to slide the sheet of paper up with it as I slowly filed out with the rest of the class.

"I know it's your birthday, Goldie, but what's got you so excited?" Roy asked me as he finally rose from his own seat and fell into step beside me. He and the others sometimes like to call me Goldie because of my skin, which most people mistake for a golden tan.

"Just happy for the day to be over so I can go into the city," I replied as we made our way down the stairs. I glanced at him for a second and noticed he did not have his new jacket from earlier. "I thought you'd be wearing your jacket for the rest of the day. What happened?"

He smirked and pointed up to the sky as the rain continued to fall around the grounds, softening the grass beneath our feet. I glanced back up at him. "Not gonna get it wet five minutes after it arrives, Kory. I like to take care of my things! Besides, since we're celebrating in the city in our civvies, it probably would not be a good idea for Roy Harper to be wearing an official Titans jacket with the name Speedy stitched on it. That's just asking for trouble, y'know?" I smiled and nodded in return. "So when are we leaving?"

"Well, I still need to wash up and get changed before I meet Dick at the garage. I think he's taking me on his motorcycle."

"Ooh. The fearless leader finally gonna ask you to go steady? Or, and this one's _so_ much better, he's skipping all that dating crap and just plans on flat out proposing! You both do only need to be a year older to legally tie the knot."

"You know, I'm sure if you boys weren't constantly teasing us," he stepped back from me with a look of mock offense, which only caused my smile to widen into a full grin again, "then we would probably already be boyfriend and girlfriend."

Roy slowly shook his head. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Shame on you Ms. Anders! Blaming your best friends for your current relationship status."

"Well, Mr. Harper, unless you would like to be my flattest friend, you will learn to keep your mouth shut for a while."

"Well, I'll try, but Gar and Wally are the one's you'll probably have to worry about. They just don't know the meaning of shut up! And they are _such_ bad influences."

We laughed as we finally walked through the south entrance. "Donna, Wally, and Vic are meeting up with us around seven, if you want to go with them. They've got to go through a few hours of training and by the time they're finished with that I'm sure you'll have finished fixing your hair."

"Ha. Ha. You all always have to pick on the hair. Fine, I'll go with the others, but only so you and Dick can get some much needed alone time. Hopefully by then the sexual tension will have completely disappeared, never to return again!"

"I'll see ya," I giggled as I started up the stairs to my room.

"Later birthday girl! Hey!" I turned and stared down at him curiously, "If it doesn't work out for you two just remember, you always got me by your side," he joked and sent me an overly flirtatious wink.

"Please. If she ever decides to turn to you, hair-boy, then she would obviously be crying out to the rest of us that she's contemplating suicide," I heard Karen reply from behind me.

"You always gotta pick on me, don't 'cha, Karen," he exclaimed, stuffing his left hand into his pocket and letting his history book hang loosely in his right hand.

"Boy, you make it way too easy," she shot back with a wide grin before stopping beside me as Roy walked away with a short scoff. "Hey Kory, Donna told me to meet up with you guys at The Palace tonight, but I gotta be out and back by nine if the weather clears up. Astronomy's been a pain in my ass and I still have to check my constellation calculations to see if they match up with the constellations around eleven tonight."

"It's alright, I understand. If you need help then let me know! I elected to take my first year of astronomy last semester."

"Thanks, but I gotta learn to do this on my own or else I'll never get it. I gotta head out for my last period science class. I'll see you later!"

"See you!"

I sped up the stairs and down the second floor hall, straight to my dorm room. Twenty minutes later, I was showered and changed into a fresh pair of jeans and cream colored sweater to cover my uniform top and silver, bulletproof bracelets. My boots were dark enough to pass for a set of hiking boots with dark soles. I brushed my bangs away from my eyes and smiled at myself in the mirror before grabbing a set of sunglasses and leaving my dorm room.

The garage was really an underground fourth floor to the T, which hid all of the Titan vehicles in one locked down area and students vehicles in others. Most students, by the age of sixteen, were given odd jobs around the city that they were allowed to go to after school or on the weekend. Most of the older students, like Vic and Karen are the ones with cars, others who can't fly or don't have super speed or teleportation have motorcycles like Dick and Roy. The student section was connected to a street that led out of the front gate that has been hidden for years thanks to the wonders of technology. The dirt road that travels parallel to the gate, leads straight toward Jump City, the closest city to The T Institute.

The elevator doors opened and I could hear the water hitting the pavement, from the open garage doors, the sound echoing off the high ceiling before my footsteps could be heard over them.

Dick always keeps his motorcycle parked toward the back.

"Took you long enough," he muttered as I got closer. He was bent beside his motorcycle, tinkering with it like always. His project these last three years has been that bike. For a while some of us thought it would never be able to run and he never let anyone help, especially Vic, who had designed his R-Cycle, but by his sixteenth birthday he had it ready to take on a long distance road trip. I'd never seen him more proud. "I thought you stood me up. Decided to stay in and wash your hair or something."

I tilted my head as he sat up and stared at me with those deep blue eyes of his. "You're not a nerd, and I always feel so bad for them in those cheesy movies. They're so sweet and yet they get stood up and walked over constantly."

He shrugged and slipped on his black leather jacket, pulling the tan riding gloves from his pocket. "Originality is hard to find. Especially when it does happen a lot in reality. Ready?"

I nodded and he jumped to his feet and grabbed the helmets hanging off of the bikes handlebars before tossing me one. I handed him my shades to store in the inside pocket of his jacket before slipping the black motorcycle helmet over my head and sitting down behind him.

He started it with the push of a button and revved it up before lifting both feet off the ground and peeled out of the parking space and out the open garage doors. I glanced back in time to see them close before wrapping my arms around Dick's stomach and leaning into him. The driveway was a little less than two miles long and the gates began to open when the bike passed through a sensor a few feet away. When the wheels hit the dirt path, mud was kicked up every which way around us and I slapped his shoulder lightly when I saw the mud at the bottom of our pant legs. We had only traveled about three miles when I noticed a light coming from high above on my right side. I tugged on Dick's jacket, unconsciously noticing he had already begun to slow down until we finally came to a stop in the middle of the road.

I stood and watched the flaming red and orange object make its way through the cloudy sky and closer to the ground before it disappeared behind the tall trees.

"I can call the others and have them check it out if you want," Dick offered a few minutes after the object had disappeared. His body was just as tense as mine as I slowly sat back down.

"No. Let's go check it out," I replied softly, and odd feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Dick revved the engine once more and took his bike off the dirt road.

A/N: Whew. Okay, action is definitely coming up in the next chapter! In part two there's a good fight between two people who, for the moment, shall remain nameless and everything will move along from there. Until the next update, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please review!


	3. Returning Home? Part II

Disclaimer: See chapter one.

This chapter is set in Kory's (Starfire's) POV.

Returning Home? Part II

Oh X'Hal!

That energy that hit me…that was from a Finnuc blaster; a class 1 Tamaranian weapon! My head is killing me. It completely blew the front wheel off of Dick's bike. Oh no! Dick. I was sent flying over that crater and into a number of trees, but if he even traveled half as far as I did…

I forced myself up to my feet and winced at the sharp pain that just seemed to cut through me. Gritting my teeth and shaking my head to clear the dizziness, I forced myself to focus as I floated off the ground and took off arriving back at the scene in just a matter of seconds. It's never taken me long to get my adrenaline pumping and as I glanced down at the fight between Dick and the… That man is definitely Tamaranian, and a very well trained one at that. I took a deep breath as the energy of the star bolt in my hand had begun to grow to the size of a baseball before I hurled it down at the man who just attacked Dick and I.

It hit his open left side and took him off his feet just as I had hoped before I was upon him. Grabbing him by the armored shoulders of his uniform vest, I slammed him into a tree and raised my right hand, another star bolt already aimed at his handsome face.

"Who are you? What do you want here?" I asked him in our native tongue. He glared at me for a moment, his emerald eyes on the green energy shining from my bare hand, reflecting off my now well-exposed bracelet. I hadn't even noticed my top was that torn, but I now knew my uniform top was exposed. "Do not make me repeat myself!" I warned him when he said nothing in response to my question.

"I have come for Princess Koriand'r," he replied slowly and I immediately released him. "King Myand'r has sent me to this planet to retrieve her and I suggest you and your _partner_," he glanced back at Dick who I knew was glaring at him in return over my shoulder, "do not interfere with my mission."

I looked him up and down, wondering if I had seen him before in my childhood on Tamaran. He was a few inches taller than me, and probably two or three years older. His eyes were the same emerald green and golden skin was the same as my own and every other Tamaranians', but his short curly brown hair was what stood out most to me. I don't remember ever seeing a Tamaranian with hair that color. They always had hair in some shade of red just as my own.

"What'd he say?" Dick's words interrupted my thoughts. His voice sounded a little hoarse, but still carried that powerful 'hero-mode' tone, as Gar liked to call it in jest.

I started to carefully comb my hands through my long hair in an attempt to buy some time and gather my thoughts. The soldier just continued to stare at me patiently before telling me, "We really don't have time for this, Princess. I have traveled a great distance to bring you back home."

Taking a deep breath, I asked the question I had been wondering since he had first uttered my name. "Why now?"

"The war with the Gordanians has recently come to pass. Unfortunately, your father was struck with a grave illness and your elder sister is nowhere to be found. You must come home to claim the throne," he explained to me with a stony expression, but patient voice.

I heaved a large sigh and stared down at my booted feet like a small, sad child. "It is not that simple."

"No, it is not. You do remember the laws of our world."

There is no peace without sacrifice. "Your name?"

"I am Prince Karras of the Southern continent."

I nodded slowly before turning to see Dick staring at the both of us, his wet ink black hair in complete disarray from his fight with Karras, his shirt, jacket and jeans torn, dirty, and slightly burnt from the crash. His jaw had already begun to swell a bit and there was a thin cut that ran along his cheek, but he still didn't seem as beautiful to me as he did in that moment. His eyes portrayed the absolute confusion, uncertainty and fear that he felt, the fear and confusion only increasing as I tried to silently express the sorrow I was feeling.

When I came to a stop in front of him, I couldn't help but wrap my arms around him and pull him in for a tight hug, barely keeping in mind that I could easily crush him if I was not careful with my strength. I tucked my head into the crook of his neck and took another deep breath, trying to store this memory. He slowly wrapped his arms around me and a split second later I could feel his breath tickle my ear as he leaned down to whisper in my ear, "What's going on, Kory?"

He sounded like the little lost child I felt like, so confused and unsure of what to do. I pulled back and stared up into his eyes before leaning in and pressing my lips to his own.

I don't know how long we just stood there, kissing as the rain continued to fall around us, but when I pulled back, I reached down into my jeans pocket and pulled out my communicator and silently handed it to him before stepping back.

"Tell the others I'll miss them too," I told him before turning to see Karras waiting for me patiently. I walked over to him and wrapped my arm around his waist, the tears already making their way down my cheeks.

"Kory…" I floated both of us off the ground and into the sky. "Kory." Don't look back down. Don't look back down. "Kory!" His voice was getting stronger and I could tell he was just below us before I flew straight through the grey clouds and out of his sight. _Don't look back down_.

"I do have some solar energy to burn if you'd rather fly alone, Princess," Karras quietly offered.

I shook my head. What could take an advanced Tamaranian ship a matter of days to travel a few light years could only take me a few hours if I picked up enough speed. Besides, my body stores much more solar energy than Karras', thanks to the Psions experiments. Of course, if I hadn't been for them, I would have never had the power to escape the Gordanians and land on Earth. I would have never met my friends who…don't know about any of that and most of who wouldn't understand why.

There is no peace without sacrifice. Those were some of the final words my father uttered to me when I was eleven-years-old, after returning from my training with the Warlords of Okaara. He had traded me away to the Gordanians, with peace promised in return.

I'm sure when I was not recovered from the Psions four years ago, the war was reignited. During my own period of happiness these past four years, my people have been forced to suffer and die once more, and so, the others would never understand why I have to return.

Just as I did before, if I must sacrifice my own peace and happiness for the peace and happiness of thousands of others, then the trade off is well worth it. And would it really be much of a sacrifice if I am returning home? Back to Tamaran, with its lush forests and clear skies! The sun always shines, giving the perfect atmosphere for flight!

It's my home. It's where I belong. Isn't it?

…If it really were, I probably wouldn't feel the way I do now. I wouldn't be questioning my actions or myself.

There is no peace without sacrifice...but there are always other ways to solve problems. Maybe I can find one that will allow me to return to my real home someday.

A/N: And so ends the second chapter of this arc. The next chapter will be up next week. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far! I really enjoy all of the feedback and hope you keep them coming!

Thanks for reading! Please review.


	4. Returning Home? Part III

Disclaimer: see chapter one.

This chapter is set in Dick Grayson's (Robin's) POV.

Returning Home? Part III

I've been in a lot of fights in my short seventeen years of life. Won a lot, lost a few, and just been buried alive on some rare occasions but for the past four years, there's been one constant. One person that would back me up, lend me a hand, and even lift and carry me back home on the buried occasions and she…she just flew off with that sandy-haired psycho!

What the _hell_ just happened? And why…why does it feel like I just _lost_ the biggest fight of my life?

I'd collapse to the muddy ground again if I could. I feel that exhausted as I just stare up in the area they had disappeared maybe an hour or two ago.

The rain finally stopped.

Kory loved the rain. She was always fascinated by the rain and snow and- Oh dammit, Grayson! Pull it together! The way my mind's working right now, I'm making it sound like she's dead!

C'mon detective. The clues are obvious, but right now, I'm just having too much trouble pulling them together. Gotta slow it down. Take it step by step.

I take in a deep breath and close my eyes, focusing on what happened.

We were probably a hundred yards away when that bastard shot my front wheel, sending us both flying. I ended up in that damn crater, slammed up against the hot metal of the asshole's ship. Stupid thing melted and burned off the back of my jacket. I was lucky the melted leather stuck to the side of the ship and not the back of my shirt. That would have been very bad.

I pulled away and got up to see him standing over me with some type of gun in his hand. He wasn't expecting the four-sided throwing star I sent at his hand. Got it out of my utility belt and at his hand before he could fire his next shot. Then I jumped him to the ground. But I wasn't expecting him to punch at my esophagus and spin me around like that. Same skin tone as Kory's, same eyes, but the hair was different. Kory's is auburn and long, and curls at the ends. His was a sandy brown, almost, cut short and curly and he had some type of large thin silver ring that wrapped around his head. It didn't go past the center of his forehead but couldn't have been more than a quarter of an inch thick. Maybe a sixteenth less.

Gotta give the guy credit for that good left hook he sent to my jaw before I threw him back against one of the trees behind us. Gonna really need to put some ice on this one.

We slammed each other around a bit more until we were in the open again. Then Kory made her move, slamming a star bolt into his left side, letting the force of it lift him a few inches off the ground, before grabbing him herself and slamming him into another tree.

I couldn't help but smirk at that moment. Kory's real nice, but she is one person you _never_ want to piss off. Not unless you have a death wish, of course. And then she started talking to him in…I think it was Tamaranian. She could know other alien languages that we don't know about. Donna's been the only one to take the time to actually learn some Tamaranian from Kory, although she was originally just as curious as the rest of us to find out if she swore whenever she spoke in her native tongue.

It's a good assessment since, up until this point, she's only ever used it when she's angry so no one understands her.

He didn't reply for a while, and she said something else to him that finally got him to move his glare from me to her and replied. Halfway through whatever he was saying, she dropped him and lowered her right hand. The star bolt was gone and her eyes, which oddly become a bright glowing green, the pupils disappearing and iris and sclera combining to become the same bright almost neon green glow as her star bolts whenever she is focusing the energy.

Her entire demeanor changed in the split second and whatever it was they were talking about…it made her feel sad and guilty. I could see it in her eyes when she last looked up at me. Whatever it was he told her, made her leave with him. He took my… He took my best friend away from me. What's even worse is that she didn't even tell me _why_. Did he tell her not too?

She obviously didn't want to go. Her body language showed that. She was practically screaming it out to me when she looked at me and hugged me and…and kissed me.

She was saying goodbye, even though she didn't want to leave but then…why did she? Why go if you don't want to?

Maybe he had something on her. Something none of us know about. Something she'd done that…she never expected would come back and bite her in the butt. But, she should know she could always count on me to back her up. On all of us, no matter what!

I let out a growl of frustration and glanced down at the communicator vibrating against my stomach. Kory's communicator.

With a tired hand, I lifted it up and glanced at the small screen. Donna. I dropped it back on my chest.

I can't believe she just left like that. She didn't even get to say goodbye to everyone. Didn't even get to see the party we had set up in the city for her. Now I have to tell them some guy just crashed his ship in the middle of a small forest, got in a mud fight with me, and then talked Kory into leaving the planet with him. With how fast she was going up, she was trying to break through the Earth's atmosphere and head into space.

She did tell me that Tamaranians can breath in the vacuum of space. But she also said they could all fly too, so why did he come in a ship and then let her fly him outta here?

So many questions and the only person who could answer them is probably millions of miles away.

Shit!

My eyes snapped open as I heard someone or something brush against one of the bushes behind me, only to look up and see Gar, Wally, Roy, Rachel and Donna staring down at me, each with varying degrees of interest and concern.

"Why are you lying in the mud?" Gar was the first to ask. Bad pig jokes up next. "Seriously, you guys say Wally and I live in a pigsty but at least we don't spend our evenings taking long mud baths. Keeping something from us, Dick?"

Called it.

Now Donna's gonna ask where Kory is.

"Where's-" Better to just cut her off quick, so I lift the communicator off of my chest in a silent answer.

They all just stare at it for a few seconds before Donna finally took it from my dirty right hand.

"So was she captured by whoever came in that ship Vic and Karen are checking out? Or did she lose it while chasing after the person or something?" Wally asked in evident confusion.

"No. She gave it to me and left with the guy that came in the ship."

Ow! Donna dropped the stupid communicator on my head, in her shock.

"She did what?" Karen demanded from somewhere in the crater in front of me.

I sat up slowly, wincing at some of the small burns and bruises I had finally started to feel.

"We saw the ship on its way down, went to check it out. He blows out my front wheel with some gun he was holding."

"This one," Roy interrupted me, hanging the weapon in front of my face with his pinkie on the trigger.

"Yeah, that's the one. Kory and I went flying and I ended up mixing it up with him for a few minutes before Kory stepped in, blasted him off his feet, slammed him into a tree and talking to him."

"Did she know him?" Rachel asked.

"Don't know. She didn't tell me. He was obviously Tamaranian like she is, but when I asked what he was saying she didn't tell me. She just…she gave me a hug, kissed me, gave me her communicator, then said to tell all of you she'd miss you too. Then she took off with the guy without another word."

Blank stares. Then confusion. I glanced back over to Gar to see he was using his civilian hologram still. Rachel must have teleported all of them over from the restaurant. Vic was probably still using his holo-civvies too.

"Dick, can you remember what either of them might have said in Tamaranian. I could translate it," Donna offered softly.

"They were talking too quickly and too softly when replied. I'm pretty sure the first thing Kory asked was who he was and why he was here or attacked us, since that's the first thing she always asks but…" Wait a minute. "I did get one word. It was the last thing he said to her. He said Karras. Any idea what that might mean?"

She shifted her weight to her left foot with a thoughtful expression for a few seconds before she lowered her blue eyes to the ground and shook her head in dejection. "Nothing I recognize. It…it could be a name or maybe a place."

"Could be a planet for all we know," Karen added as she and Vic climbed out of the crater.

The ship!

"Vic, is there any way you can salvage that ship's computer?" I asked him quickly. I was about six feet tall, and yet he still was a full head taller than me, so when I stood in front of him I constantly had to look up.

He rubbed a hand at the back of his neck slowly, contemplating my idea for a few moments. "I could try. The outer shell of the ship is what took most of the hit, but everything inside seems to be okay. It would take a few days, even with Karen's help, and could be even longer if we have to try and translate the alien language. Who knows what the guy could have had stored on there. Maybe two hundred different mission logs. And Donna barely knows how to speak Tamaranian, let alone read the language. If it's the only language on the system."

Days. Perfect.

"What about back plotting its course?" I asked next. Who knew how long it would take us to even get to wherever the hell it is this guy came from? All that time could be wasted. "It wouldn't require much or any knowledge of a language as much as it would just setting the autopilot back toward its point of origin. How long could that take you?"

Vic's eyebrows quirked in interest. He glanced over at Karen for a moment to see her nod hesitantly in response, before turning his gaze back to me. "That could work. It would still probably take a day or so, but definitely much less time than decoding, and reading, the system files. There's still one problem, though."

"What's that?"

"The T-Jet is not built for deep space missions," both he and Karen replied shortly, before he continued to explain, "We don't know the atmosphere of other planets out there. We could get caught in the pull of a planet in another galaxy in be burned through it's atmosphere before we'd even hit ground! Not to mention, the origin point of this vessel could be light-years away we probably don't have an engine strong enough to travel that distance in the vacuum of space. We're talking about weeks – possibly months – of floating down an imaginary trail in space."

"I'm okay with missing the next few months of school," Gar jumped in, a grin once again on his face.

"I could definitely use the extra time to not study for midterms," Wally added with a matching smile.

"We're not going to be gone for months," I told them both, causing their shoulders to slump and eyes to dim. "We can take the ship he came in. While you two," I motioned over to Vic and Karen, "work on tracing its course, the rest of us will work on repairing its shell. If that ship made it all the way here and it'll make it all the way back."

"It's gotta have a specific capacity, Dick," Karen warned me. "That damn thing only brought one man and from what Sparky and I could tell, it can only hold three, maybe four people if the weight's correct. The slightest ounce over and you're asking for trouble."

"Than you better pay real close attention to whatever little wires you clip and whatever little quirks you both find in that damn thing. You're in charge of flying it."

She heaved a small sigh. "Girl better come back with us, 'cause by the time I do, I'll definitely need to take her up on her help in Astronomy."

A/N: I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. Thanks for reading! Please review.


	5. Returning Home? Part IV

Disclaimer: see chapter one.

This Chapter is set in Dick's (Robin's) POV.

Returning Home? Part IV

"You know glarin' out that window ain't gonna bring her back, right?"

I glanced over at Karen before checking over my shoulder to see Gar still snoring on one of the pull out beds with Donna nowhere in sight.

"You know what I love? You can take on a room full of highly trained ninjas and never lose your cool, but your girlfriend leaves without a word and for the past two days you've been spazzing out," she continued with a smile. "Looks like you really are human, Boy Wonder."

I readjusted my thick winter coat and tightened the tabs of my leather gloves over my wrists before muttering, "She's not my girlfriend."

Karen let out a loud snort, the end of which was only drowned out by Gar's loud snoring. "Dick, please, give us all a break with that bull. We all know you like her – as more than a friend – and we all know she feels the exact same way about you. Your constant denial is why we always crack jokes at you about it! Although, in all honesty, none of us really know why you deny it. So why do you keep denying it?"

I honestly don't know.

"How long until we're there, Karen?" I asked instead.

"Another day or so. You have plenty of time to answer my question."

"What about-?"

"Quit trying to change the subject, kid, and just answer my question. You may want to take all the time you can, but I truly prefer to just cut to the chase."

Gee, I couldn't tell in the three and a half years we've known each other.

"Gee, I couldn't tell in the three and a half years we've known each other, Karen."

"So then why bother?"

I let out a short sigh and slump back in my chair. "I just…I don't want to ruin anything between us, I guess."

"You guess?"

I guess… "Kory's been my best friend. She only arrived at the Institute about a week after I did and…we've been through a lot and if we _were_ dating and something went wrong and we broke up… I just don't want to screw up our relationship."

Karen set a gloved hand on my shoulder and gave it a small squeeze. "You can't think about things like that Dick." I looked back at her and my eyes must have said it all. It's my job to be prepared for absolutely everything. To think of all the situations and choose the best counterattack to them. "Yeah, I know it's what you do, buddy, but relationships don't work that way. They're not battle strategies."

"Huh. Tell that to the person who said 'All's fair in love and war,'" I quipped with a small smirk.

She grinned back at me. "Well technically, you just did and I just told you that there's no battle strategies in relationships, so…"

Dammit. I hate it when my friends use my own logic against me.

"I know you really just hated that."

I quirked an eyebrow as she turned in her chair and checked the ship's systems. "What? Now you're a mind reader too."

"Been around all of you so much, it's not that difficult anymore."

I run my left hand through my hair. Gar's not snoring anymore. He's awake and listening.

"So when do you think Gar's gonna get over those damn fortune cookies?" I asked while tapping my finger against the hard metal right arm of my chair. Morse code works wonders. Karen picks up quick.

"Obviously not too soon since he brought about five pounds of it along with us," she played along with a smile. "Maybe he brought it along to add a few pounds to his whale blubber."

"Whale blubber?! I don't have blubber!"

Heh. Gotta love Karen.

* * *

***

"Dude, pull up before you kill us all!" Gar shouted at the top of his lungs as Karen gritted her teeth her hands clenched tightly on the control stick, looking as though she was pulling it up to the point it would rip out at any moment.

"Shut up, Gar! I'm trying! I warned you guys this could happen!"

"Are you blaming my 'extra whale blubber' on this?"

"I wasn't but if we plummet any faster, I'll start! Now shut your trap and buckle your seat belt."

Would've taken Vic if he wasn't so heavy. All of us know he should be in the drivers seat for any vessel but…Karen's just gotta ease it back and wait for the right moment to pull up.

"Karen," Donna started calmly, "just let it take us down further."

"Girl, we'll spin outta control."

"Take a deep breath, loosen your grip, and wait," she continued in that same calming tone she's always had. She has a voice, a tone, and a personality that exudes immediate trust.

Donna's always been our negotiator. She comes from royalty and knows how to keep her cool in high-pressure situations. She has super strength and can fly, but her ability to peacefully and calmly talk things out is probably her greatest ability. That, on top of the fact she's the only one of us who has any familiarity with the Tamaranian language, is why I picked her to come along with us. Plus, she's Kory's best friend and been her roommate since she first came to the Institute so if this mission is…unsuccessful, she should at least get the chance to say goodbye to her best friend. Her sister, almost.

Karen closed her eyes and took a deep soothing breath, her grip loosening as she exhaled.

We were still plummeting, but with the way she was holding the controller now, we still weren't spinning out. The edges of the glass were still glowing red hot, probably as much as the outer shell of the ship.

"Should I grab the chutes?" Gar asked, looking at me.

I just shook my head no in response. Karen's got it now. She'll pull up at the right time. The landing won't be smooth, but we'll live and that's the important part. When we find Kory, we can get a new ship home.

It's kind of weird sitting here in my uniform without my mask. Over the past three days I've actually had to force my hand away from the inside pocket of my thick winter coat, where its hidden at the moment.

No need for the secret ID when you're on an alien planet, right?

My eyes remain focused on the ground that is quickly approaching. Haven't spotted any sign of human life yet, but there sure is a lot of greenery. The planet should definitely be inhabited. By what is the only question.

Time for Karen to start pulling up more. "Try and pull it a little more to the left, Karen. The trees we're heading for look too tall from here," I ordered.

She remained silent but pulled the control more to her left. Good, she's keepin' it slow. If she jerked it, we'd have already broke into a spiral.

"We're still gonna hit the trees, aren't we?" Gar blurted out the obvious.

"Yes, but at least this way we can avoid the chance of slamming straight into one," I replied. We'd die on impact, even with the shell being made of…whatever it's made of. We couldn't even chip off a piece from the burned area. Figure that was the shells weak points, instead we just welded the strongest Titanium Alloy we had in the shop. At this point, it's probably welded on good and tight thanks to the tremendous amount of speed and friction we picked up once we entered this planets gravitational pull.

Karen began to pull back a little quicker. Getting closer to those damn trees, she's gotta level it out if we even have a chance of making a bearable landing. I have to physically try to not show any signs of panic. If I panic, Gar panics and points it out and Karen could lose faith in her piloting skills.

Now it's really starting to heat up in here. Air is getting thick. I yank off the snap buttons on my coat and unzip it as far as I can. If this keeps up, fuel and oxygen tanks could burst. Oxygen tanks!

No time to check on the atmosphere. If the tanks burst, it wouldn't matter if we'd be able to breath or not. "Donna, grab small tanks for our belts and one of the extras," I order her, my focus still on the ground in front of us. We've still got two, maybe three more minutes until impact. Keep trying to level it, Karen. Keep fighting it.

I barely see her hand, but I definitely see the light shining against her bulletproof bracelets as Donna hands me two of the oxygen tanks. Glancing at the others, I see both she and Gar already have their clear masks on and connected to the tanks, while she's helping Karen slip hers on so she doesn't have to control the ship with one hand. When it was on, I handed the canister back to Donna. "Throw it out the window!"

She didn't hesitate and threw it with a force that left the window cracked and a hole the exact size of the rectangular canister before the wind rushing through finished breaking the glass into smaller pieces hurdling straight toward us. I raised my coated arms and ducked my face between them and toward my chest to protect myself from the large and small splintered pieces.

When it stopped and I raised my head again, I could practically see each individual needle on the trees before we were pulled up sharply, the base of the ship, scratching against the treetops.

I glanced over at Karen. A few cuts on her face from the glass, and some glass (or whatever that window was made of) stuck in her hair, but she looked fine otherwise. A few drops of blood on the shoulders and collar of her coat, but I couldn't see any major signs of bleeding. Gar and Donna looked to be about the same; a few facial wounds, but so far nothing too major. 'Course, you always feel it after the adrenaline slows.

"I can't find any place to land this sucker," Karen told me just a split second before a tree ripped off our right wing sending us spinning to the left.

Now it was time to clear. "Unbuckle, grab the gear, and let's fly out. Good job on keeping us up, Karen. Just keep trying to coast it over these smaller trees for a few more minutes, then we can let it burn."

"Friction against the trees is already heating us up and slowing us down, dude," Gar pointed out.

"Yeah, but I'd rather let the damn thing hit the forest floor without us in it. We're still not sure how high we are above the surface and I don't want to drop in this tin can a few more hundred feet."

"Good point."

"Thirty seconds now," I ordered as I grabbed both Karen's backpack and my own. The hunk of junk began to dip to the left.

"Not gonna be able to keep it from tipping, Dick," Karen told me as she stood from her seat.

"Go! Now!" Gar turned into a hawk and was out the open window before I even began to utter my second command. Donna was right behind him with his backpack in her hand and her own slung over her left shoulder. I yanked Karen's right arm off the control stick and pulled her out with me. "Time to fly!"

She moved to hook her arms under my own and followed Donna and Gar's trail in the opposite direction of the falling aircraft.

By the time it hit ground, we could still hear the blast it created upon impact.

Damn. Looks like the dive wasn't the only reason we were overheated in that damn can. This planet was sweltering with my coat on. "Gonna have to land before we die from overheating," I told Karen over the rush of wind in our faces.

She nodded and flew faster, past Donna and Gar, motioning her head down as a signal to land.

The ground surface wasn't too far down, but it was hard to tell, at first, through the thick foliage. The ground beneath our feet was full of grass and dirt. As soon as Karen let go of me, I dropped both our backpacks and practically threw off my coat before rolling it up between my hands. I opened my backpack and stuffed it in quickly.

"We're good," Karen said, pulling off her oxygen mask to signify that the air wasn't toxic.

"I could'a told you that," Gar replied as he transformed back into his human form. "Piece of that weird glass cut through my air hose. Slowed it down from piercing through my coat, though, so I got off lucky, I guess."

"No one has any major injuries, right?" I checked barely noticing the gash on my left forearm. Glancing down at it quickly, I noticed it barely missed a major artery. Just a cut.

"Other than the few scrapes we got, I think it's just you that needs a little patching up, Dick," Donna replied, already digging through her backpack, probably for the better first aid kit.

"It can wait," I told her, "Pull out Kory's shirt. Gar, change into a blood-"

"We don't know how any of the creatures or water or trees or leaves can affect our open wounds, Dick," Donna cut me off, her stitching kit, already pulled out. "The little scrapes will scab over quickly, but that one's still too wide to leave unattended."

"Yeah, dude. Don't want to find Kory only for you to collapse and die in her arms from some blood disease or something," Gar joked with a wide smile.

I let out a small growl before telling him, "Then while I'm getting stitched up, you and Karen need to check the surrounding area. We don't want to get ambushed by anyone or anything."

He raised his arm in a mock salute before Karen lightly tapped him on the back of the head and motioned for him to follow her.

"He may have been teasing you, but Gar's right," Donna whispered once he and Karen were out of our sight. I winced as she cleaned my wound, the chemical stinging it before numbing the pain away so she could stitch it up. "I know you're worried about Kory –we all are – but you can't let it cloud your mind. We all have to stay focused if we're going to survive this. Especially since we have no clue _what_ planet we're on or _what_ we could be up against in this forest. I don't know about you, Karen, or Gar – especially Gar – but when we passed through the sound barrier and started to see the continents, I couldn't spot any sign of civilization in this area, especially as the ground came closer. We could just be traveling in circles for miles."

I didn't have my binoculars on me, but I saw nothing but green as well. This all could very well be a suicide mission that I've led us to.

"We stick to the plan for now," I told her calmly as she wrapped a long white bandage around my now well-stitched arm. "Take out the shirt and I'll have Karen and Gar come back. Gar will track her scent. If he starts moving, that means she's here. And that means there must be some kind of tribe, town, or city around here too. We don't worry about anything else until we know whether our original plan works or not. We've come too far not to at least try."

A/N: As a special treat, this week I (now obviously) posted twice. I've enjoyed all of your reviews and opinions immensely so keep 'em coming! Did the Titans land on the right planet? Or did they miscalculate? Keep reading to find out!

I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please review!


	6. Returning Home? Part V

Disclaimer: see chapter one.

This chapter is set in Kory's (Starfire's) POV.

Returning Home? Part V

Tamaran is just as beautiful as I remember. It still looks like a true paradise, one that only the Caribbean Islands of Earth would be closest to compare. And the sun! The energy feels so good, I've never felt this strong before! And I haven't flown as fast, which is saying something since it only took me a few hours to arrive here at my _top_ speed. I'm sure if I wanted to, I could fly back home in…

I've never felt so lonely in my life. Even when I was a slave of the Gordanians. At that time, my focus was always to escape the tragic fate I had been given. Even death would have been a welcome escape than being traded to a new and crueler owner.

Now I just wish to go back home and be surrounded by my friends. To watch Gar and Wally pull pranks and crack jokes and Rachel glare and snipe at them to stop. To hear Vic boast about how much he had improved his strength at the end of the week and see his mock glare and frown as I still lift at least one or two more than him, so I do not crush his pride. I wish I could go back and hear the music that blasted through the closed door of Karen's room and hear her complain on sunny afternoons how she's stuck inside fixing peoples mp3 players for extra cash when she could be at the beach watching the sunset, even though she enjoyed tinkering with electronics just as much. I wish I could watch Donna and Roy flirt around each other between classes and can't help but wonder how long it will be for them to finally get together, or even if I will make it back in time to see if they ever did before graduation. And Dick. I wish I was back on the school roof with him, lying down and watching the sunrise in silence.

Do they miss me? Are they angry at the way I left without a word to almost any of them? Would they ever even want to see me again?

"Koriand'r?" I hear a deep booming voice call out from my bedroom door. Galfore. "Koriand'r where are you my little bumgorf?"

"Out here, Galfore," I reluctantly reply. I'm lonely, and yet I wish to be alone.

"You are still floating out here?" Galfore wondered aloud, "You should be preparing yourself for tonight's feast! Even your father has found the strength to ready himself."

I could not speak. I just continued to stare forlornly at the sunset in front of me. I knew I was being rude, but I could not help myself. Even I am contemplating faking an illness to explain the wanted absence from this dinner.

Galfore laid one of his large hands gently on my shoulder as a sign of comfort and reassurance and I floated softly back down to my chair. "What is wrong, little one?" he asked kindly. Galfore had always been very kind to me when I was younger. My father had assigned him to protect and guard my sister and I, and even after we had both gone, he has watched over and protected my younger brother. He had returned with Ryand'r for this…special and momentous occasion. Ever since Komand'r and I trained early with the Warlords of Okaara all those years ago…no, possibly a lifetime ago, my father and the other rulers of the continents had decided to send their children early as well, in hopes this generation is better prepared for war and betrayal then they had been. They now believe that all those years of peace had weakened and softened them too much, and yet, with my marriage to Karras, they hope to bring years of peace to Tamaran once again.

I sigh and dip my head. "Nothing is wrong, Galfore. I am very excited to be back home. The celebrations have been wonderful."

I almost remind myself of Rachel with how hollow and detached my voice has become over the last few days.

"Koriand'r, you know that you can trust me. Tell me the truth," he insisted.

The truth? What was that saying Donna liked to use when she knew someone was lying to her? The truth shall set you free. And yet, no matter what I tell him, I will never feel better, because I know I cannot go back home in who knows how long and explain to my friends that I had left to get married. A marriage of state is something most of them would never understand because it is no longer practiced in their culture.

"I just miss my friends, Galfore," I answered honestly. I do miss them, that is not a lie, but I also wish I did not have to go through with any of this. That Komand'r will come and take her rightful place on the throne. That Ryand'r were old enough to rule so I may live my life however I wish to live it. That I were marrying someone else. Someone with deep blue eyes and ink black hair, two locks of which would always remain small curls over his forehead, no matter how he styled it. Someone I never wanted to say goodbye to, especially not the way I did.

I left him in the rain, calling out my Earth name. My name.

"Kory…Kory…Koriand'r!" Dick's voice fades and Galfore's voice startles me out of my reverie. "The feast will begin soon. You must get changed."

"Of course. I am sorry Galfore. I will be out in a few minutes."

He looked at me in concern once more and I sent him a small smile to reassure him, before he finally left me on the balcony once more. I stood slowly, almost lazily and went to retrieve the dress that had been left on my bed. It was a soft lavender dress with a bejeweled neckline of white stones that almost reminded me of pearls. The belt that was left beside it were two thin interweaving strands of the same jewels, creating a small diamond pattern along the waist. My crown, a ring made of the same pearly substance, still lay in its place on my dresser. I changed into the dress that stopped halfway down my thighs and tied the belt with a loose bow positioned at my side. It reminded me of a dance Karen and I had gone to last year while she, Donna, Rachel, and I were working undercover at an all girl's school. It was nothing formal, but Karen had tied a green ribbon around my waist to add a slightly elegant touch to my outfit and tied the bow at the side to make it seem more like the last minute choice it was and make me stand out from the crowd a little bit more.

I can still remember how the boys accused Karen and I of having too much fun partying and leaving Donna and Rachel to do all of the work after they handed the cult leader over to the proper authorities. Karen's response, of course, was "Well if we were partying so hard, how'd we catch that murdering Satanist cult leader in the first place?"

"Pure luck," Roy had replied with a smirk.

"Please, boy, luck had nothing to do with it. It was pure _skill_! Bird Boy obviously isn't the only detective around here."

It was of course, a lot of luck, but Karen had dragged me away just as I had begun to break out into peels of laughter, leaving me with no chance of explaining the situation.

That is not to say we hadn't done our jobs as we were ordered, but Karen and I had been curious about the texts our "gang of mutant butt wipes," as Rachel had referred to our "click," had sent us about this party and Donna had Rachel had even agreed to cover for us if we were out too late.

I certainly have been sighing in dejection a lot lately.

Stepping over to my dresser, I gently lift up my crown with the tips of my fingers but hesitate.

This is it. The last night I can consider myself to be Kory Anders. From the mirror I can see my uniform hanging outside my closet doors. The last night I can consider myself to be Starfire. Tomorrow at dawn, I will be Queen Koriand'r of Tamaran. Ruler of all the Royal Houses of Tamaran.

Happy birthday, Kory. And goodbye.

I slip the crown into it's rightful place, holding back the tears I know want to escape, and check my appearance one last time before I make my way out of my room and towards my new life.

As I walk down the halls of the palace, toward the dining hall, I can't help but overhear a guard's conversation with a woman.

"You have trespassed on the King's hunting grounds, crashed your vessel, and yet have no explanation and therefore no choice but to be taken to the dungeons," he explained coldly.

"Did not know," I heard the woman reply slowly. Waitaminute! I knew that voice, that slow deliberate Tamaranian dialogue. Oh no!

I turned on my heel and rushed back down, turning sharply toward the yells of the prisoners. Of four of my best friends.

"Guard, halt!" I called as I rushed up to the scene, a large smile on my face at the sight of my friends, but shock written on all of theirs.

"Kory?" Gar questioned with some confusion.

"Don't worry. I will handle this," I told them before turning back to the guard with a stern expression. "Release them."

"But Princess! They trespassed on your family's ancient hunting grounds," the guard tried to explain to me.

"They are my guests and will be treated as such. Release them!"

"Princess, they crashed a transport onto the hunt-"

"I do not care! Release them or lose your head, guard," I replied just as coolly as he had to Donna. He quickly snapped his fingers for his underlings to release Dick, Donna, Gar, and Karen and I continued, "They are guests for my wedding and have obviously had long and exhausting trip. Call the servants and have them in fresh clothes and warm beds within the hour or you will no longer have your job."

"Yes, Princess, as you wish." He looked past me and at his underlings once more. "Tell the maids of the Princess's wishes. Will there be anything else, Princess?"

"Yes, please go to the dining hall and tell my parents and husband to be that I am sorry for my tardiness, but must see to my guests first."

"Of course, Princess," he replied quickly before turning on his heel and marching down the hall and out of sight.

Once he was gone, I turned back to my friends with a wide smile and quickly engulfed them all in my arms. "My friends! I am so happy to see you!"

"Good to see you too, sweetie, but you mind loosening the grip a bit," Karen wheezed, "Gar smells like a mangy dog."

"Yeah, 'cause I'm the only one around here that smells, Karen," Gar quickly shot back as I released them.

"You're the only one that smells like a dog, little man."

It is so good to hear some form of my friends arguing again. I turn to Dick, still very amused, before my stomach seems to plummet once more as he quickly explains to me with the most adorable hopeful look in his eyes, "We came to take you back home, Kory." I can feel my own smile melt into a sad frown as my stomach twists and turns. "The others would have come too, but we weren't sure if the T-Ship could make the trip and-"

"Dick," Donna slowly cuts him off with a single word, and my gaze finally returns to her for the first time since I told the four of them I would explain everything to the guard. She heard enough to have some semblance of what is going on. Her frown almost matches mine, though there is evident confusion in her eyes as she looks back at me, "Kory…are you getting married?"

"What?!" Dick shouts, his voice echoing off the empty corridors. I can't hear Karen and Gar arguing anymore and glance over through the corner of my eyes to see them staring at me in shock.

Gar, as always, is the first to recover. "What? Dude, she can't be getting married. She's _seventeen_ remember? Legal limit is eighteen."

"There is no limit on Tamaran, Gar," I whisper sadly.

"You're getting married?!" This time Dick was not the only one to shout. Karen had timed her shout so it was perfectly in sync with his.

"To who?" I heard Karen on my right.

"When?" Dick demanded.

"Since when?" Gar continued the questioning.

"Please stop and let me explain," I told them, holding up my hands. It already felt as if they were ganging up on me with their questions and I was trying to use my hands to push them back and give me some space.

Donna wrapped an arm around my shoulder. "Is there anywhere we could talk in private?"

"Follow me," I whispered, turning quickly out of her arm and taking a left at the joined hallways, leading them back to my room. Once the door was closed, I slid the lock for reassurance of privacy before sitting them on the edge of my bed and motioning for them to take a seat anywhere they wished.

"When I was eight years old when the Gordanians attacked Tamaran," I began my tale once they were seated, "my father sent my older sister, Komand'r, and myself to train with the Warlords of Okaara at that time. While we were away training, the Gordanians somehow broke through Tamaran's defenses and killed millions of Tamaranians. When I was eleven, I had completed my training and was allowed to return home. My sister, though older than I, was told by the Warlords that she was not as well prepared as I and would not be allowed to leave until she was able to master the arts. She was furious that I had outdone her in both training and combat.

"When I arrived back home, my father and mother were there to meet me. It was very quiet and there was no signs of recent attacks, yet the Gordanian vessels still remained watching over our city's skyline. My father explained to me that, in exchange for peace with the Gordanians, I would be given to them-"

"What?!" Dick, Gar, and Karen all shouted in sync once more. They had all jumped up from their seats as well, even Donna, though she did not interrupt, was on her feet.

"Please, I have not discussed this with anyone before, and would like to continue my story without interruptions," I told them as calmly as I could, motioning for them to sit back down. I took in a slow breath, through my nose, to try and clam myself, before exhaling through my mouth and continuing, "My father explained to me that there could be no peace on Tamaran without sacrifice, and that the only way the Gordanians would leave my people in peace, is if I left as their prisoner. For about a year, I was sold – almost on a monthly basis – to a new owner until the Psions captured one of my owner's ships – a race of alien scientists who like to experiment on their prisoners. It was later there that I was reunited with my sister and we were both involved in a solar experiment the Psions wished to conduct. They wanted to see how much solar energy a Tamaranian could absorb before they are killed. I have no idea how my sister was captured, but it wasn't until they had her that they had begun to experiment on me. Though it was not like the Science labs that we must complete for class, unless they considered the rest of the Tamaranian race as the control and obviously the amount of solar energy we were exposed to was the variable.

"I was tired of being a prisoner and the experiment had made me feel much stronger as I struggled on to break free from all the pain until it finally happened and I had broken free and destroyed the ray they had been using on me. My sister, however, was still being exposed. I could not let her die in the hands of those monsters, so I tried to free her as well. I ended up getting frustrated and accidentally used my star bolts to free her. I offered her to escape with me, but she not only refused but blasted me with her own star bolts, knocking me out cold and stuck in the Psion's ship for another few months. By then I was toward the end of my twelfth year and entering my thirteenth and second as a prisoner.

"Frustrated, I waited for the right moment to strike, and when a fleet of Gordanian ships attacked, I knew it was my moment. I used all of my strength to break down the door and find an escape pod, which took me to Earth, and the Institute. But, when I was captured the Psions, the Gordanians declared war on Tamaran once more, believing my 'escape' with the Psions, as a breach of contract and so, for the past five years my people have been suffering again. Recently the war was brought to an end, but my father, the King of the ruling house of all of Tamaran had taken ill with a deadly virus and he will be gone by the end of the month. My sister, it seems, is nowhere to be found and my little brother is only eleven and much too young to take the throne. Unless you are the first-born son or daughter of the King, as my sister is, you must be married to rule over the houses of Tamaran and so my parents negotiated my marriage to Prince Karras before the Prince left to announce the news to me and take me back here to Tamaran.

"It is a marriage of state," at this point I look at Donna, knowing that, as another Princess, she would understand and help me make Dick, Karen, and Gar understand, "If I do not marry Karras soon, then the throne will be forfeited by my family and civil war shall break out between the continents for the right to rule."

Silence. That was all that filled the room for what seemed like eternity.

"Wait a minute," Dick muttered, his head still buried in his left hand, "You said that if your sister comes to claim the throne, then there is no need for you to marry this guy. If we can find your sister, than you can come back home with us."

"It is not that simple, Dick," I stated sadly.

He ran a hand through his hair and frustration and finally looked up at me, his eyes blazing with anger and pain. "What do you mean it's not that simple? They found you, didn't they? What's to say that they didn't even try looking for your older sister or even know where she is? Who's to say your dad's not just trying to screw your life just like he did by _giving you away as a fucking peace offering?!_ None of it makes sense to me, Kory. Something's not right. And you – _you don't even want to be here_! We can all tell you don't want to. That you don't want to go through with this so just screw 'em! Screw your so-called family! Let them worry about their own damn mess. Just come back home with us where you really belong."

"Dick," Donna spoke up, her voice still even, "it's not that easy."

"Who says, Donna? Huh?"

I stood and walked over to him slowly, my feet moving across the floor almost on their own. The moment my hands touched his shoulders his head snapped back down toward me. "Tomorrow is the end of the Tamaranian month, Richard. I'm marrying Karras at sunrise and my father will be buried after sunset. There is no more time."

"But Kory-"

"I have to do this."

"I-I just don't understand _why_? Why do you _have_ to do this?"

"There is no peace without sacrifice, Richard. You know that as well as I do. Our time as Titans has proven that. And now…my time is over. I'm sorry."

A/N: So, now you've caught up with Kory. Hopefully this shed some light on why she just took off a few chapters ago.

I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Please review.


	7. Returning Home? Part VI

Disclaimer: see chapter one.

This chapter is set in Karen Beecher's (Bumble Bee's) POV.

Returning Home? Part VI

Recap: Kory's getting married to some Prince from another continent on her home planet, Tamaran, because her father is going to die at sunset _today_ and since she's the second-born child and the royals can't find her bitchy older sister, according to some stupid law, she _has_ to marry and rule with this complete stranger she doesn't even know, even though she's really only seventeen years old. On top of all that, in the past few hours we also learned that when she was younger she had been used as a bartering chip to stop some war that her people were losing and for two years she became the slave and experiment of aliens – the experiment part explaining how she had gotten her super strength and star bolts – before she was finally able to free herself and land on Earth, eventually meeting all of us. And yet, despite _all_ of that – especially the 'her-father-willingly-sending-her-into-slavery' part – she _still_ wants, no – wait. Sorry, she doesn't _want_ to marry this complete stranger, but she feels that she _has _to, and again – hate to keep bringing this up but, _they shipped her off to be their enemies __slave_! Somehow, she and Donna can get over that part, and yet Dick, Gar, and I are still having a hard time and…

Whoa! Gotta slow it down, Karen. I feel almost as confused as I know Gar feels.

"I still say, since she told us first that there is no legal marriage age, she should just have her little brother marry some little princess or something," Gar proposed again, towel drying his hair. Why did we decide to meet in his room again? Especially since he's been in the shower the since we got here.

"It doesn't matter, Gar, she's not coming back with us so let's just pack our bags and–" Dick muttered angrily before Donna broke in.

"Hold on a minute," she started, finally lowering her hands from her face, "Since you've heard of all this, Dick, you've been trying to make it sound as if she doesn't _care_ about us anymore. Like she doesn't care about you anymore, when we all know that that's not the case! You heard Kory. Ever since she got here, she's been going through her giant book of Tamaranian laws to find a loophole. She wants to come back home with us."

"Then she should come back with us, Donna. Not stay here and marry someone just because her asshole father told her too! None of this is right, and you know it as well as I do!"

"In terms of you culture, then yes, it isn't right that she be forced into a loveless marriage, but this isn't _your_ culture, Dick, and I know this may be hard for you to hear, but based on Kory's culture – the one she was born into, not the one back in the states – this is actually _very_ normal. As is the practice of bartering for peace with the enemy."

"Have you ever even heard of someone willingly giving up their _own_ daughter to keep the peace? Especially their second born? Why did these Gordanians even want Kory in the first place, when they could have her older sister instead? Then that would have still eventually forced this but…"

"Well, I don't know the answer to your second question, but I do have one for your first. My mother bartered me."

Donna say _what _now?

My head snapped back over to her and I knew my look of shock probably mirrored Dick and Gar's.

"Themyscira is supposed to be well hidden from prying eyes, but the year before I arrived at the Institute, a U.S. Naval officer washed up on our beaches," she began, "We healed him and returned him back to Washington, but it seems he had set a tracking device on the invisible plane that brought him. Turns out he was an undercover F.B.I. Agent and, while he was being healed and resting on the island, he had reported some dangers to his superiors, believing that our training practices were meant as preparation for war with the States. We are really just a warrior race and have trained for centuries, but had never used our training for many generations. We had also practiced in forms of art and literature as well, but when the U.S. Special Forces arrived, they certainly were not expecting that. While we have spent our lives training vigorously for battle, over the centuries, we have also let our guard down, and so, were unprepared when they first touched ground on our beaches.

"My mother, or Queen, had been walking along the beaches that night and saw their ships but did not alert the rest of us. Instead, she waited and basically let herself be captured. We did not find out until the morning. The soldiers stayed for months, even after releasing my mother, on the promise that we would not attack. Another month passed before my mother started bringing me to the meetings that she had been having with the Generals on sight. I wasn't really sure why, at first. I kind of thought she was preparing me to watch Themyscira. I tried my best to pay attention, but I was still thirteen, going on fourteen years old, and would have preferred to sit under my favorite tree and continue my reading books or sit in the garden and paint. It wasn't until later that I realized that they had been talking about sending me to the States – to the Institute – to learn more about their culture and laws so I would later be able to understand and help my people through further negotiations and peace talks. A few weeks before my fourteenth birthday, most of the ships and all of the few planes had left Themyscira's shores. One of the final two ships had recently arrived with clothes, my new I.D., and all of the proper papers that certified me as a born American. The temporary treaty was finished, stating that I would not be allowed to return home until I have graduated from the government chosen school and that three months after that time, the treaty will expire and a new one must be created that incorporates all of the united States government's proper laws as well as Themyscira's own. Of course, it's much more complicated than that, but that's the basic idea."

You have _got_ to be kidding me! Why in the hell would she-

"I didn't put up a fight because there was no need to. The officers held up their end of the bargain by leaving without even firing a single shot and up until I arrived at the Institute, my people wouldn't even have an idea what those weapons could have done to them. Sometimes, if the situation is like the one I was brought into, the treaty can work for everyone on both sides. I admit, I was scared and spent much of the ride to Jump City wondering if they would really hold up their end of the bargain, but it ended up working out for me as well because I met all of you and Roy, Wally, Victor, and Rachel. And even though she spent two years in pain and imprisonment, I think Kory believes it worked out well for her too. For the same exact reason. And even if it didn't, what she said is true, and the first thing any Princess or Prince must learn; there is no peace without sacrifice. The peace, happiness, and safety of your own people comes above all else to a King, Queen, Princess or Prince, even if it comes at the cost of your own personal sacrifice."

"So wait a minute," Gar spoke up before the rest of us, and we could all practically see the cogs turning in his head, "you're saying that – technically – you're a prisoner too. Only, you're our governments prisoner."

Donna looked thoughtful for a few moments before carefully answering, "Technically yes, though I certainly haven't felt like one since my first few days at the Institute. I'd actually say it's more like I'm on parole. Our teachers are kind of like my parole officers. I know they write up reports on me and send them to their superiors and so on and so forth – to make sure that I'm keeping up my end of the treaty and not trying to escape or anything. Every three months I'm also required to meet with an agent, in the city, and we go over my mission reports and they use a lie detector to help record the honesty of my response."

"If they're monitoring your mission reports, that would mean they monitor the rest of ours as well," Dick brought up.

Donna shrugged casually. "Yeah, probably. Anyway, we need to get back on the point, which is helping Kory. You're ready to pack up and go when we still have a few hours to try and help her find a way out of this." She paused and sighed before standing and walking to the door. "I'm not leaving with you. I'm not leaving Kory like this; letting her think I'm angry with her for following her people's customs. Have a good trip, guys."

Opening the door, she slipped out and let it creak to a close behind her. Please, she knows as well as I do we're not going anywhere. Pretty good guilt speech though. Except for why she's here with us, that's just not right, but I'll talk with her about that later.

Standing, I stare at Dick and Gar for a moment, just watching their guilty eyes slide to the floor, before I turn and follow Donna right out of the room, slamming the door behind me.

It doesn't take me long to catch up with Donna at the end of the hall. Both of us seem to have the same destination in mind, but when we knock on the door, there is no answer.

"She could still be down at that dinner," I assumed, leaning against the large doors to Kory's room, "She was late 'cause of us and they might want to keep her a little—Uh, hello there little man." The boy looked to be around ten years old and he was looking up at me with the same green eyes that every Tamaranian possessed. Not really a group of individuals, are they?

He was wearing a purple vest with a shiny metal collar and purple pants with no shoes to cover his feet. His hair was the same shade of auburn as Kory's and was pulled back into a short ponytail that curled around the nape of his neck. When he didn't speak, I glanced over at Donna. "Wanna try and translate for me?"

Just as she was about to reply, he tugged on my pants leg and motioned for me to come down to his level. I looked back over at Donna before sighing and kneeling down. He just stared directly into my eyes before he grabbed my face and pulled my lips straight against his.

"Whoa! I am _so_ telling Vic when we get home!" I heard Gar before the little boy let me go, stumbling back against the door before falling back on my butt.

What the _hell_ was that?

"My name is Ryand'r," the boy finally spoke softly, in _English_.

"Wanna tell us why you just kissed our friend?" Dick wondered aloud. From the sound of his voice, he was just as amused as Gar.

"Tamaranians are able to assimilate languages through physical contact. By kissing your friend, Karen, I was able to learn your language. She has a very large lexicon," he explained and…I guess I'll take that last part as a compliment.

"But did you _have_ to kiss her or did you _want_ to kiss her?" Donna asked, now obviously becoming as amused with the circumstance as everyone else _but_ me.

At her question, the little boy, Ryand'r, just gave a small smile before answering with a question of his own. "You wish to find my sister, correct?"

"Yes, and without any more lip-to-lip contact, thank you," I replied this time, automatically jumping to my feet. Took long enough to get over the shock of that.

"She is in the…library, I believe the term is, at the moment. Follow me, please."

He turned on his heel and marched softly down the hall.

"Since you've got the kissing kids thing down now, Karen, you plan on becoming a politician or –"

"Gar, if you finish that sentence, I promise I will send a jolt of electricity up your butt."

"I'm still telling Vic."

"I'm happy for you, salad head. Don't forget to mention that well known fact that my eyes were _open_ the entire time, or I'll have to skin you." He chuckles as I ruffle his hair playfully.

"I'll think about it," he promised with a wide grin, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

"Did you leave the door open when you left?" I heard Dick ask cautiously, drawing my attention back to the trio in front of Gar and I. Damn, talk about a difference in height for that kid compared to Dick and Donna. Guess I really didn't notice when his mouth latched onto mine! Yuck! Note to self: rinse mouth out later. With extra strong mouthwash. I have no idea what they eat hear on Tamaran, but it left that kid with some rancid breath!

Well, I guess I could chalk the kiss up to him thinking I'm cuter than Donna or something. What in the world?

"You sure Kory was in here?" I whispered. This library was a mess! Chairs, tables, and books were thrown all over the place and I could smell singed wood and paper. Kory's star bolts?

I glance over at Dick only to see his eyes roam from the ceiling to the floor. I followed his gaze. Oh yeah! Definitely Kory's star bolts. There was one black scorch mark on the ceiling, one at the outside of a huge hole in the center of a bookcase (obviously, the way it was centered, that was where the smell was coming from) more on the floor leading to the broken window outside.

"She asked me to come and retrieve all of you," Ryan told Dick, confusion evident in his emerald eyes, "She was very excited about something that she wanted to tell you."

"Where was she sitting?" Dick immediately asked, motioning for Gar to step closer to him.

"At that table over there," he pointed out, "but I have no idea what she was reading. She had many stacks of books strewn about the table."

"Retrieve? Strewn? Dude, he's like ten and he's got a better grasp of the English language than we do," Gar whispered.

"Than _you_ do," Donna corrected him with a small smile.

"Gar, just see what you can sniff out," Dick told him without a trace of anxiousness.

The green-skinned fifteen year old tilted his head to the side before leaping toward the table where Kory had been, transforming into a green-furred bloodhound mid-jump.

He walked around the table in a circle, his nose on the ground, and when he came back to his original starting point, he lifted his nose to the sky and circled the table again. He shook his head before transforming back to normal and just sat there and stared at us in a slight daze.

"Anything?" Dick wondered aloud after ten more minutes of silence.

"Dude, I can't smell anyone's scent. Other than ours," Gar replied slowly. My gaze flicked over to Kory's "little brother" to see if he was planning to run. "No, guys, I don't think he had anything to do with it. I'm saying, since this is a library, a lot of people's scents should be here, but they've been masked with something else, recently. Something really strong and…" he sniffed a bit, "zesty. Like a lemon, but I guess the Tamaranian version of that scent. The whole room is covered in it! And it had to have been sprayed recently. Kid couldn't have done it himself, since we were in the hall with him."

"Hey!" Ryand'r yelped, and Donna, Gar and I glanced over to see Dick holding him up by his collar so the little prince was eye to eye with him.

"Was there anyone else in here when you left?" he demanded in a deep whisper.

"No. I was sent from dinner to find Koriand'r and when I did find her here, the doors had been closed and she was reading something and then she sent me to get all of you. Now I demand you put me down!"

"Not yet. What is your sister not supposed to know?"

"Excuse me?"

"Obviously she has been attacked, possibly captured, and the person who did it does not want us to find her. So, what _isn't_ she supposed to know about this little wedding of hers?"

"I do not know. I have only returned home for this event. I've been away with the Warlords of Okaara for the past three earth years."

"There's gotta be something your family is keeping from her," Dick insisted. Can't disagree with the guy. He is the resident detective and this entire scene just screams suspicion. Although, I really should be past that phase by now. It really screams kidnapping – or, more hopefully, _attempted_ kidnapping – at the moment.

"Dick, these scorch marks are really cool," Donna reported. I looked up, barely realizing she had flown up there.

"The scents may have been covered recently, but the fight happened before we got here," Dick quickly deduced. Guy's a real genius. Of course, the window being opened could have helped cool the burn marks down. So far it seems the continents on this planet are like large tropical islands; constant cooling breeze included. "The windows were blasted on purpose," Thank you!

He set Kory's little brother, and I made sure to keep an eye on the kid as Dick continued, "But they were also opened by hand. Whoever did this came back to try and cover their tracks."

"Ryand'r!" I heard someone shout from the doors, and we all turned to see…wow, that is a very large and heavily muscled man! Damn! And I thought Vic was tall, but at even at six-five, Vic seems like a small animal to this guy and I'm starting to feel like a peanut or something. He starts muttering gibberish, probably Tamaranian, before pulling out this large axe from it's holster around his back and aiming it straight at my face.

Good thing the kid's with us. He touched the large man's hand, his five fingers not even able to wrap around the man's right index finger, before calming him down and turning back to us. "I am sorry. This is my k'norfka, Galfore."

"You're what?" I heard Dick and Gar echo my sentiment.

"His nanny," Donna whispered to us.

"Dude, you have a nanny?"

"Is there a problem with that?" Whoa! K'norfka G just spoke English! I don't remember seeing anyone kiss him!

"Dude, how did he…?"

"He touched him, Gar," Dick replied shortly.

"They can take another language through physical contact, remember?" Donna reminded both of us with a small smile.

"So you could have avoided the whole kissing thing and just _shook my hand_ to learn English? Boy you are so lucky you are--!"

"Are you threatening the Prince of Tamaran?" Ryand'r's whatever demanded of me.

I flew up to make eye contact with the big behemoth. "You bet I am, nanny boy!" Donna grabbed my foot and swiftly pulled me back to the damn floor.

"Something's happened to Kory," she explained to Galwhosits, as I took slow calming breaths. "We're just trying to figure out what. We're her friends."

"Nothing is wrong with the princess—"

"Dude, have you _seen_ this room!"

"Yes, and I believe the four of you should get to work on cleaning the mess you have all made or face-"

"They did not destroy the schwiba, Galfore. Koriand'r was in here only minutes ago. She had asked I retrieve her friends, but when we returned the schwiba was in shambles!" Ryand'r explained. Yeah, kid you better set him right. Trying to pin this bull on us. Please. I sure as hell feel welcome around here. Less than eight hours and I've already been burned, cut, arrested, and accused of breaking about a hundred laws I never even knew about. Ever heard of benefit of the doubt, people!

The man had tilted his head to the side and narrowed his eyes like a curious lion, his long red hair his mane. "But that is not possible. Princess Koriand'r has just left for her ceremony."

"Say what?!" I screeched. Okay, now I've got a giant headache! "Will someone _please_ explain to us what's going on?"

"How long have you known the Princess, Galfore?" Dick asked patiently, though his hands were clenched as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Since she was born," the man answered with some pride, "I was her k'norfka as well."

"So then you could explain to me why she was the one that was taken by the Gordanians years ago."

"I beg your pardon."

"Well, it just seems odd to me that the Gordanians would want her as their slave. I could understand why physically, but her social ranking wasn't as high as her older sister, Komand'r. Her sister was next in line for the throne, right? So why not ask for her?"

"There is no time for games. I must-"

"Ignore the truth. Avoid it. Kory doesn't even know why she was really taken, does she? Or maybe she figured it out and that's why she was taken from this room. You and the rest of her family – the ones who know, anyway – are obviously hiding something from her. Otherwise, why not search as hard for her sister as you did for her?"

"I do not like what you are insinuating!"

"But it is a cover up, isn't it? Why else would you be sweating so much right now? Or not making eye contact with any of us? Why not just tell us the truth? We came all this way for our friend, your princess, I think we all deserve that much – including her."

The man glanced toward the door. Donna and Gar just slammed the doors closed, keeping him from escaping. During Dick's questioning we had all moved toward the obvious exits; Donna and Gar the doors while I floated by the windows in case he became that desperate.

For a big man, he folded under pressure pretty easily. "Komand'r is not the first in line for the throne. Koriand'r is. Komand'r was a very…cruel and ruthless child, and once Koriand'r was born, the people voted that Komand'r not rule, and Koriand'r would assume the throne when the time came. Komand'r was furious with the vote and even tried to kill her younger sister upon finding out the news. Since Koriand'r was just a baby, she had actually thought her sister was playing with her when she lifted her and dropped her from the highest balcony. She was so happy, that she was actually able to fly up that day from the unbridled joy! But after the attempt, Myand'r, my friend and King thought it best someone guard Koriand'r, in preparation for a similar event if any came."

Well, that explains why Kory's sister never liked her.

"That explains why she was the one bartered away," Dick muttered, his jaw tight, "but if she's now considered the first-born, why does she have to _marry_ this guy to take over the throne?"

"During the war, the planet had taken two sides. One following King of the Southern continent, who died a few months before the war ended, and King Myand'r, the King of all of Tamaran. Because of his father's efforts and death during the war, Prince Karras and his mother had gained a large following, enough to take over Tamaran, especially since the King has recently taken a deathly illness, and so, before he was resigned to his deathbed, the King set out an agreement with Queen Salja of the Southern continent for Prince Karras and Princess Koriand'r to marry. The only one with the power to overrule this treaty, now, is Princess Koriand'r herself by claiming take to the throne. Unfortunately, there is the possibility – and threat – that if she refuses to marry Karras, then the Southern continent and its allies will wage war on the rest of Tamaran."

"So you took the choice out of her hands by agreeing not to tell her."

"I am a soldier. I agree to nothing. I only follow orders."

"So you attacked and forced her to go through with all of this, then?"

"I had nothing to do with any attack that took place in this room! I would _never_ harm the Princess, or force her to do anything! When she was younger, I had told her to live her life with both freedom and conviction, as any Princess or Queen should. When I saw her enter the Vrasnas speeder minutes ago, she did not even seem to know of any of this. She seemed perfectly normal and looked like the perfect bride. I did not even know and could not see a sign of any attack."

So then Kory's fine? She actually wants to go through with this?

No way! I can't believe it. Time to crash a wedding and bust some heads! No one mess with _any_ of us and gets away with it. Titans' code, baby!

A/N: Sorry, lost track of my day. I've got a job again (start Monday) and had some last minute things to do before the weekend.

When I originally plotted, this arc was supposed to end with this chapter, but this my muse had other plans with this chapter, so I just ran along with it. I decided to change the POV with this chapter to add a different dynamic to it and keep Kory's attacker a mystery and also add Karen's edge in their. Plus I wanted to try and start working on her internal voice. I know you guys have commented that you think she's funny, but I'm trying to also find her internal voice as well. I've never written from her POV before, so this was really just a little practice to try and work it out. Let me know what you thought.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please review.


	8. Returning Home? Part VII

Disclaimer: see chapter one.

This chapter is set in Dick's (Robin's) POV.

Returning Home? Part VII

She's been brainwashed. She's looking at me as though she's never seen me before and…it's killing me.

I hear the speedster head off behind me somewhere. Southwest. Toward someone who might be running. The person that probably did this.

"Kory, you _don't_ have to do this," I urged her, my hands set firmly on her shoulders. For once, I honestly don't know what to say. Don't have a clue as to what could snap her out of this. "Galfore told us everything. You don't have to marry this guy."

Even if I can convince her, would she still stay? She'd have to, wouldn't she? She'd still be Queen and would still have a civil war to quell from this entire mess. She'd still have to say goodbye…right?

But she'd still be herself and wouldn't be married!

Her eyes narrowed at me and she slapped my hands away from her before talking to me in Tamaranian. Seems like she can't even speak English anymore, and if she can't then how am I supposed to communicate.

The shadows looming over me are a nice big signal that she's called the guards. Think fast, Grayson, it's what you're best at.

I side-step the guards so I'm at Kory's side and my arm quickly snakes around her waist as my free hand automatically goes to the compartment in my utility belt holding my line gun. I shoot it over the large guards heads and Kory and I end up swinging to the highest pillar. They can fly and Kory could easily throw me to the ground so hard, every bone in my body would be broken.

Move fast. Stay a step ahead.

The moment my feet touch on the top of the pillar and the clamp is reeled back in, I leap off and onto the oncoming patrol ship, feet first, over the windshield and slamming right into the face of the cruisers driver, knocking him out.

As I throw the unconscious officer's body out of the cruiser, I'm still trying to think of some way to get Kory to remember. There has to be some way to get through to her without having her try and blow my head off.

"How the hell do you fly this damn thing?" I barely hear myself mutter over the whipping wind and – oh shit. I see the eerie green glow that comes from her star bolts.

Glancing up at her, even her eyes are alight in fury.

Wait. Her brother…when he…

I reached up and placed my right hand at the back of her neck, pulling her face toward mine. Her lips were just as soft and warm as the last time we'd kissed. It didn't take long for the tension in her shoulders to melt away and her soft hands cupped my cheeks and pulled me a little closer, deepening the kiss.

Best kiss of my life.

I felt a jolt rock through the cruiser. Shit. Got too lost in it.

I pull back immediately and open my eyes to see the ground spiraling…no; we're spiraling closer to the ground. Dammit! How the hell do you fly this damn thing?

"Kory, you've gotta pull us out," I yelled over to her, trying to gain her attention. She still looked too cute…uh, dazed.

Dammit, Grayson, _focus_!

I wrapped my right arm around her waist once more and stood, pulling her up with me before jumping out of the crashing crusier.

Wind's so strong, not even sure how close I really am to the ground.

…Things getting way too fuzzy. Don't black out. Don't black out! Don't…black…owwt…

***

I blacked out. Great…

Slowly opening my eyes, I find myself in one of the castles 'guest' bedrooms. Breathing okay, my back and neck are a little stiff, and my left forearm was a little sore, but that's to be expected. Still healing from that cut a few days ago.

"Hey, buddy, welcome back!"

Gar. Awesome.

"How long have I been out?" I ask him as I move slowly to sit up. Still don't feel any major injuries so I probably didn't hit the ground.

"About three days. Kory's nanny is hooking us up with a better ship back home, but he said we'll have to wait until the people of Tamaran finish mourning the loss of their king. Donna checked, and we've still got about two more days before they finish with that. It's a five day grieving period, I guess."

At least they haven't arrested and put us on death row or anything. "So what happened while I was out?"

"Well after you jumped out of the speeder, Donna noticed some woman already running away. Turns out, it was that Prince's mother. We caught up with her in no time and the little Prince and his big bad body guard – slash – nanny talked her into confessing that she attacked Kory used some type of mind control device or something to get her to agree to marry her son. At least, that's the basic gist of it. They started to use Tamaranian when describing some of the tech and stuff and, well, it was just way too confusing.

"Anyway, we got back to try and help you stop the wedding and Kory already had the Prince arrested and her talking to all of the people that were there. When we brought the Queen up to her, Kory had her confess and she well…did. Pretty quickly too. She said her son had nothing to do with it, so Kory let him go and the people were all cheering for her and stuff like she was a rock star or something. It was pretty cool! You should have been awake to see it!"

"So she's back to normal?" And she didn't get married?

"Oh, yeah! Not sure what you did if she was under mind control or some potion or something, but she's been fine since. Though we really haven't had time to even see her since her coronation."

Coronation? "She still got married?"

"What? No! From what we could understand, because of that Queens betrayal, she and her son basically lost all of their support so there won't be an all out war. In fact, she's in jail, and the Prince now has to try and find a way to get his own…uh, country or whatever, to trust him again thanks to his mom's actions."

Okay, so then she's just Queen of the planet. Wait a minute… "Galfore said that the people of Tamaran voted Kory as her father's successor when she was born. So, I still don't get why she had to get married in the first place. Why did they still keep that from her when she arrived?"

"Because of the power that country had. Queen whoever threatened Kory's mom and dad that if he left the throne solely to her, she'd use her strength to wage that civil war we were told about."

Of course. When _isn't_ bribery and coercion involved in a scandal that involves famous people? Looks like it doesn't only happen in Hollywood.

"Want me to go let everyone know you're awake?" I heard Gar offer as my eyes drifted closed.

"No," I whisper, forcing my eyes to open again as I lay back down. "No. I'm feeling really exhausted right now. Just let me rest up a little while longer."

"Seeing as you've barely slept in that past week, I'm not surprised," he laughed very loudly only to be silenced by my glare. "Sorry. I'll see you later."

As hard as Gar probably tried to hut the door slowly, the monster obviously just got away from him. They're obviously set up with safety precautions enforced, since they're so heavy and durable. And yet, even though you could hear the slam for a split second, there was no vibration that traveled through the wall, shaking the room with the sheer force of the door. It was all solid and strong.

This castle had obviously been rebuilt to survive the worst as well as provide the best for its residents. Like Kory for her people.

Heh. Okay Donna, I get it now. I just won't tell you that I do.

…And I still won't say goodbye to Kory. I don't think I ever could because…I never want to.

***

"Okay, y'know this is great and everything. I really appreciate that you gave me this very large instruction manual but – you think you can translate it into English for me?"

Gar glanced up from his almost empty box of fortune cookies at the sound of Karen's voice. He grinned and muttered, "With all the time we had here, you'd think she would've asked for the damn thing sooner."

Donna giggled as she set her lone bag down and sat on her claimed bed. "She did. That's why she's annoyed."

"Well they were in mourning," I reminded them.

"Tell Karen that. She understands and everything, but doesn't get how they still couldn't have given her to instruction manual earlier so I could start trying to translate it for her. Now I really don't have any time."

"I wonder what will eat her first; the book or the nanny?" Gar wondered aloud.

I glanced out the open door to see only Karen's bent knees, the book concealing the rest of her body as she tried to balance it on her back. If it's that big closed, I wonder how she plans on opening it in here.

"The way it looks, Gar, the book will flatten her into a pancake which will only make it easier for Galfore to eat her," I reported with a small smile as I look back at him, turning my back to the scene.

"I honestly don't see what the big deal is. She flew that whatchamacallit over here, how hard is it to fly this thing back?"

"You forget that she and Vic made some changes to the bzinga transport before we took off," Donna reminded him.

"Buzz-whata transport?"

"Buzz-in-gah transport, Gar. That's the ship we took over here."

"Wow. Only you could come to an alien planet and learn more than necessary, Donna."

"And only you could come to an alien planet, and not learn anything at all, Gar," she teased him in return.

"Hey, I learned something on this trip. I learned that I'm happy I am a civilian in the good ole U S of A. You can marry whoever you want and you don't have to worry about wicked conniving Queens trying to marry you to their soldier sons just cause they can create a civil war."

"True, but Karras seemed very nice and sincere. And he was really handsome."

"What? No he wasn't!" Oops. That one slipped.

Gar cracked up and Donna just sent me an innocent smile. Great. She played me just so I could show I was jealous. "You're funny, Donna."

"I wasn't lying, Dick. He was handsome. But I guess we don't share the same taste in guys."

That one sent Gar rolling on the floor. "Ni—hahahaha—Nice one, Donna! Hahaha! Don't have the same taste in guys! I didn't know you were interested in guys, Dick."

"Shut up. Donna, you need to start spending less time with Roy."

"What I can say? You set it up perfectly," she replied with that same innocent smile as she stood and walked up to me. "Don't worry, though, _I_ won't tell," she reassured me, her eyes slowly drifting to the hangar, "Gar probably will, but you don't have to worry about—Kory!"

What?

My head snapped around so fast, my neck finally cracked (first time in days) and there she was, dressed in her…her Starfire uniform?

She smiled and waved before a large thump resounded through the royal hangar we were about to leave from.

"Girl, it took you long enough to show up for goodbyes," Karen said, trying to stretch her back.

Kory stopped in front of her, Gar and Donna who had both quickly made their way towards the new Queen of Tamaran. She tilted her head to the side, her wide emerald green eyes blinking slowly in confusion. "Goodbye? Why would I come to say goodbye to you? Do all of you _not_ want me to return home now?"

"You're coming back with us?" Gar shouted excitedly.

"Of course! I-"

"Whoo-hoo!"

She was quickly wrapped in a literal big bear hug, and returned it with a laugh as she lifted Gar off his feet for a few seconds. After she released him, Donna moved in and quickly hugged her as well, probably whispering how happy she was that Kory was coming back with us. Then Karen stepped in, keeping an arm thrown around her shoulders afterward as she pulled Kory toward our ship. Toward me.

"Girl, I'm not saying I'm trying to put you back to work or anything, but you're gonna have to fly us back, 'cause I have no idea how the original controls for this thing works."

"Then how did you all get here?"

"Sparky and I had to rewire the thing so it worked like a regular plane!"

Her soft laughter only seemed to echo around me. I knew I was staring but I couldn't help myself. Everyone quieted down and entered the ship before it was just Kory and I standing outside it.

"You do want me to return with you, don't you Dick?" she asked me innocently, confusion evident in her eyes.

"Of course, but…how? You're…you're the Queen." Up until this moment, I had avoided her like the plague, fully knowing that if I saw her gorgeous face and bright smile again, I wouldn't have been able to leave without her.

"As Queen of Tamaran, I am allowed to pass any laws I wish and so, in the past week, I have passed my many of my duties as Queen to Galfore," she explained with a proud smile, "but he does not have complete power. He will just be the deciding ruler of the Kings and Queens of Tamaran's continents until Ryand'r is seventeen and able to rule Tamaran himself."

A council of rulers. Like a delegation or senate. In the past forty-one hours that I've been awake, I've come up with about fifteen thousand "soft" excuses for her to come with us. They all basically consisted of the same phrases I'd been using to try and convince her since I found out she was supposed to get married, and none of those had worked then, so why would they have worked if she was now Queen? I wracked my brain for hours trying to come up with the right argument to use if I did see her again and I-

By the time I realized she was kissing me, she had already pulled back and was smiling at me, her eyes practically dancing in joy and amusement.

"Sometimes you think far too much," she whispered to me as she took my right hand with her left, weaving her fingers between my own. "Let's go home, Dick."

A/N: And so ends the first arc of this story. Not really sure how much I liked it, though, but there's always time to improve, right? Like I said before, the arc got away from me a little bit and my muse took me into a different direction. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and overall arc, nonetheless! I won't be updating next week but I will the week after. Please review and let me know what you thought. And don't worry, the story is _far_ from over.


	9. Making Up The Work Sorta

Disclaimer: see chapter one.

This chapter is set in Vic Stone's (Cyborg's) POV.

Making Up The Work…Sorta

It's boring times like this that I love being a cyborg. Being stuck in Mechanical and Structural Engineering for an hour and half is not my idea of fun. Especially since I already downloaded and read the coursework for this semester.

Being stuck in this class on a late Monday night just makes it worse. And Dr. Andrews isn't even giving us a lab tonight. Just an hour and a half long lecture. It doesn't always pay to save the world.

Glancing over at Roy, I can tell he's thinking the same thing as he sits in his usual seat one row in front of me and six chairs away, his eyes on the clock, not even bothering to hide his boredom from Dr. Andrews.

It sucks that we have to make up classes we miss. Especially when it's the first week of football season and Roy and I have money riding on a game we can't even watch the first half of! Hope I'm not missing any spectacular plays.

…I wonder if I can use the mini computer built into my arm to hack into the speakers in the building and listen to the game over it. It'd probably get Dr. Andrews out of the room for a while.

Nah. We're the only ones in the first Science building. Way too obvious that either Roy or I did it, and since I'm the high tech robot, I'll give 'im three guesses who could hack the system so fast. And if Dr. A didn't pick it up with the first two, ain't no way I'm coming back to this class ever again. This is basically my major right here!

Roy…well, he's a really smart guy (he wouldn't even be anywhere near here if he wasn't) but he doesn't always act like it. People like to think I'm creative with all the gadgets I come up with, but Roy can take any gadget I make, and somehow transfer it's simplistic qualities into some kind of awesome arrow that packs the same punch. Guy's a real genius. He could probably find some way to never show up to this class and still ace it, if he wanted.

Heck, I could do the same but for some reason… Skipping just isn't my style anymore. Taking shortcuts is what almost lost me my life.

Freshman in high school. Star linebacker on varsity, already! I felt like I had it all! You feel like your on top of the world, one day, you'll end up being thrown off.

"Boys!" I jumped at Dr. Andrews' voice. How long had he been calling us?

"Sorry, Dr. Andrews. Spaced out a bit," I immediately apologized for both of us.

He lifted his bottle cap glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose in annoyance. He probably wants to be here as much as we do. "Look boys, I know you're missing having fun with you friends, but I'm enjoying this extra period as much as you are."

"You could just dismiss us and we can all head back for some fun?" Roy offered with his usual cool, slightly cocky smile. Yeah, that's right buddy, he'll just set us free like that.

"I'd love to, Mr. Harper, but I am your teacher and I am paid to teach you both, as well as a number of other students at this school. And I expect, especially from both of you who depend on the lessons from this class to help you out in the field, to _pay_ _attention_ to my lessons! I understand that you were selected to represent this school and it's students to the rest of the world, but just because you may be celebrities out there, does _not_ allow you special treatment on these school grounds."

Well, technically it does.

"Actually Doctor, you kind of just negated yourself there." Of course, Roy. Point it out to the guy in charge of your grade. Kid never backs down. "See, you say we don't get special treatment here, but we're receiving special treatment right now. If any other student misses class, it's their responsibility to get good notes from someone who was here. If we miss class, like we did today, well…we're all kind of stuck here for a night class. It just doesn't seem that fair to me."

Hmm. Leave it to Roy to slowly climb down the mountaintop rather than wait to be hurled off. The guy's a straight up talker. I don't know how else to describe him. He's always got something to say, and he's never afraid to speak his mind or do whatever he wants. He sees no consequences in his actions and fears no one. He's not a conspiracy guy, like Gar can sometimes be, but he's also not as big a big picture guy as Dick is. He's just a guy that'll do whatever's necessary to get the job done.

'Course, that's whenever he's not flirting or cracking jokes.

"You know what, Mr. Harper, you're right!" Dr. Andrews turned and slipped his notes into his briefcase before snapping it shut and locking it tight. "From now on, both of you and Miss Beecher can retrieve your notes from someone else in class. I will no longer give any of you any special treatment! Test tomorrow morning. Good luck!"

When the door slammed shut behind him, I turned to Roy with a small smile. "Smooth move, Speedy."

"Oh relax. Karen was in class this morning. We can get her notes. And you can hand over some of those mini cams that we can just stick to the wall and we'll never miss a lecture again! By the way, Broncos are up 13-10 over the Chargers."

"How do you know that? Set up your comlink as a radio for the game."

"Hell no! I'm in the common room with the rest of the guys watching it! Better hurry up. Don't want you to miss watching the Bronco's taking out the Chargers. Hope you got fifty on you!"

He disappeared. Little runt used my prototype holoprojecter to make it look like he was there the whole time! He better be ready to fill out some paper work on this one seeing as he just _volunteered_ himself as my new product and gear tester. At least he gave Gar and Wally a break.

It's nice clear nights like this that get me thinking about that night. The night I sneaked out of my house and left in the back of a senior's truck for a big party. First and only time I've ever gotten drunk. Made an even dumber mistake by getting back into a truck full of drunks, which resulted in us not only hitting a lamp post, but the force of the hit causing me to fall over the side, onto the street, then get run over by an eighteen wheeler.

Don't really remember much after that. Spent a year in a coma while my dad rebuilt me into what I am today. Definitely not happy about it at the time. I ran away. Hid in caves. Never went back to my high school. Especially not after seeing a few of my "close" friends after the accident. Somehow, Dr. Andrews and Professor Smyth found me a few months later. Told me about this new school they had been hired to work at and recruit for. They had read about my accident and probably read all the science reports my dad had on file at S.T.A.R. Labs about my new…armor. They invited me as the first student and even had me help out with some construction ideas. I was almost sixteen when I arrived.

It was weird to say the least. Especially being the only student for a month before Dick showed up, then Kory a few weeks later. Didn't take much for us to become friends. We were all we had.

None of us have ever met the headmaster of the school. We know where his office is, but haven't seen anyone go in or out. Ever. I should know. Passed by there a lot during my first month here. I felt so alone. I was just looking for someone to connect with and if this…person knew who I was when they sent the Doc and Professor to recruit me…

Wishful thinking.

When Dick, Kory, Donna, Wally and I woke up one morning with what looked like a PDA sitting on our bedside tables, it was weird, to say the least. By then, the school had expanded a bit more. A few more students in each class. I was eighteen, Dick, Kory and Donna were fifteen, and Wally was fourteen.

We had been handpicked by this Headmaster to be the Titans. The school's sponsors, basically. Metahumans, you see, haven't been very well-received in our current society and our school is mostly made of Metas, whether we consider ourselves to be Metas or not. Right now, Dick and Roy are the only ones in this school that have no special power. According to school classification records, anyway. And yet they're here and they were picked. We were all picked. Sometimes I still wonder why. Most days, I never even think about it.

As I step into the common room and hear cheers break out as LT breaks off a sixty-four yard TD, I don't see the reason for any of us hiding out here. That is essentially what we're doing. What we're learning to do. Live a life in hiding until we can be truly accepted. If ever.

Dick thinks there's something else behind it. He told me that once, though he hasn't mentioned it since.

It took me a while to realize that, even though I didn't look the same on the outside, on the inside, I was almost the exact same person I was before the accident. A selfish, stuck up kid. But I was still human. My dad made sure of that. He was somehow able to save most of my vital organs and just…gave me a new body to protect them. He gave me a new chance at life. Just like I sometimes believe this school is trying to do, and just as I hope the Titans are trying to help along.

At first, we were outcasts like a number of other heroes were considered to be. Some of us wear masks and we have special powers that make us a little different. But the more we worked with authorities and volunteered, the more it seems the country is accepting us. Well, the Titans at least. Others not so much.

"Hey Vic, you gonna stand there for the rest of the game or you gonna sit down and watch me win fifty from you before the hockey season even gets started?" Roy boasts with his usual wide grin. Wally and Dick–who are sitting next to him-just chuckle.

"I'm sorry, Roy, I believe Tomlinson did just score a touchdown while your Broncos just went three and out, pal!"

"Haven't been paying much attention to the score, have you, Vic?" Dick smirked over at me before tilting his head to the television.

17-16 Chargers. Dammit! I need the bolts to win by seven to beat the spread.

"They still got another half to play, boys. This game ain't over yet."

"Please man, the only easier money I can get is from all the freshman betting against me on hockey games," Roy boasted with a reckless smile as we let out a collective groan. First lesson for freshmen, never bet against Roy Harper on _any_ hockey game. Especially multiple hockey games, before the season even starts. Whatever money you came in here with, is gone before your first trip to the city. "I've already got half of that class set up polishing my bike, getting me breakfast and cleaning my room for the next year. Already have the charts made up and everything!"

No doubt. First year we met him, Dick and I made the same mistake as the freshman on that mental list of his. He picked out games on the schedule and we bet against him, just winners since we didn't know what the spread would be at the time of those games…

_Never again!_

After Wally showed up, he got the real speedster to do almost everything for him, except his homework and training sessions! With every game Wally lost to him, he had a new chore added on…felt sorry for the poor kid. Gar too, last year but…well, we've kind of taken it as an unofficial hazing for new guys in the school. The only one that didn't have to go through it, of course, was Roy himself. Guy's good with money, though. I'm thinking 'bout investing in some stocks, and he'd probably be the best stockbroker out there.

"First down!" Roy shouted with a triumphant grin.

"Aww, dude! C'mon Wally, you know the snack rules! You have the last bite, you have to refill the bowl," Gar reminded Wally as he took the plastic blue bowl from the table that had once been full of popcorn and dumped it in Wally's lap. "Besides, you're supposed to have your own bowl to eat from so we don't have to go through this all the time."

"Well I'm sooo sorry, mom. Backinabit!"

Those two spend way too much time together. I chuckle and tell Gar, "You know he's gonna finish up all the bags of microwave popcorn before he even makes it back, right? There's a reason his bowl is always empty."

"Yeah but-"

"Well that's a bullshit call," I hear Roy mutter as he leans back in the couch.

"That ref pulled that flag out before the 'taunting' even took place and there was no way that was pass interference since the ball was tipped," Dick agreed quietly.

"-that was my popcorn! He rarely ever eats anything I eat-"

"Cause it's your nasty veggie stuff," Roy and I both pointed out quickly.

"-So maybe I should try making vegetarian popcorn instead!"

"Man, you already eat _butter-free_ popcorn! How is _that_ any different from vegan popcorn? Is there even such a thing as vegan popcorn?" Roy wondered aloud.

"Don't think so-oh! You've gotta see this replay! That was a great catch for a TD," Dick cheered aloud. "Looked like it was gonna be a straight up interception and the receiver just walks right in front of it, snags it, and walks right into the end zone."

"Shouldn't have happened though with that stupid penalty the line judge called," Roy reminded him, defending the Chargers in the process.

"Yeah, the but the replay showed the back judge pull out his flag from ten yards away to make that stupid taunting call. I've seen taunts that are much worse than a quick little finger wave at the end of the play."

"I know, right?"

Heh. Nothing like a good game to make up for a long week.

A/N: Just a little downtime for the guys after what happened to Kory in the last arc. As well as a bit of Vic's origin in there.

I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Please review!


	10. The Random Sweater

Disclaimer: see chapter one.

This chapter is in Gar Logan's (Beast Boy's) POV.

The Random Sweater

"Whoa!"

Duckandmove, duckandmove, duckandmove!

Wow! I wonder if that's how quickly Kid Flash thinks. Eh…never mind. I room with him; I should know by now, shouldn't I?

Whoa! Duck! Mo-No, wait…Duck! I'll fly over this piece of rubble and turn into a T-Rex or something and just crush him under my big fat-

"Beast Boy! Watch the civilians!" Raven quickly reminded me, as I stopped short of one of her damn shields. Sometimes it feels like she's just in my head and sharing my brain or something.

Can't these people just clear out faster? I mean really, it's not like we haven't been fighting a GIANT WALKING, TALKING PIECE OF RUBBLE for the past oh…HOUR! Seriously, come on! Sometimes I wonder how many people in the world would just love to get front row seats to a train wreck. And by front row, I mean actually sitting on one of the trains that's about to slam straight into the other.

Guess my amazing plan gets pushed over to the side thanks to these mor-Oh! Camera! Hey!

I always wanted to be in show business growing up. Kind of get my chance with the Titans. Too bad we're either the "Freak Show" or the "Super Circus Teen Team". As Jabberjaw always said "No respect!"

Dude, I loved that cartoon!

Big foot! Crap. This stupid thing almost took my freaking leg off. "What's your name anyway, dude?"

"Arg," he grunted.

"Arg? You're not dressed like a pirate."

"Beast Boy!" Whoa! I look up at Robin as he pulls me onto a rooftop. "Less talking, more fighting."

"How can I fight this thing without harming the idiots still standing down there watching? Remember what happened the last time I did something with people just standing around?"

We got sued. "We won it. Star's still out for another two months and Wonder Girl's trying to get help the cops clear the area. We still got morons on the top floors of buildings. Turn into a rhino and try ramming this blockhead from behind."

Why the hell did Star have to leave to get married? She didn't even get married (luckily), but still – come on! Our biggest powerhouse and she got stuck with a three-month power suspension for leaving school grounds and traveling out into space. Technically, the school is responsible for her, but still, she went to go see her family. After breaking a number of school rules of course. She didn't sign out to say she was going to be off planet, under guise. She didn't come back in time for curfew. She didn't file for vacation.

…Our school's got some pretty dumb rules. I always wonder why they came up with most of those seeing that we stay there almost year-round anyway! Ninety percent of us don't even have any family to return to. I used to think it was a hundred percent until Starfire and Wonder Girl proved me wrong on that wonderful little trip that we had to file so much paperwork for.

I'd say a hundred yards away is a good starting point. Slam him a few feet into the air and Raven and Cyborg or just Wonder Girl can finish him off from there.

When I change, it feels like I'm stretching my body. It's kind of like a weird contortion-thing. Not really sure how to explain it. When I was younger, it used to hurt a lot more, stretching my muscles and bones like that. I'm still not even really sure how it works, just that the feeling's gone from painful to just plain weird.

Somehow growing a couple of green horns doesn't help the weird feeling go away. Makes the fact that I can transform even cooler, though.

The white rhinoceros is probably the most recognizable. It can run at about 45 miles per hour, but not for long distances. Once I hit fifty yards, I pick up speed and lower my head. Time to pull the old forklift.

Oh! And Wondy's in position up in the air. Forklift and slam. This guy's definitely gonna be knocked out.

Up and…Boom!

Without even thinking about it, I'm back to my human form and pumping a fist in the air. "Way to go, Wonder Girl! Who needs Star anyway?"

She giggled as she lowered herself to the ground and smiled at me. "I'll be sure to tell her you said that."

"Nobody likes a tattletale, Wondy," I quipped back with a wide grin.

"Did you drop him in a safe zone? Never mind. Just less populated." Robin answered his own question as he stood above us on the edge of a building, binoculars in his hands and comlink in his ear.

"They're starting to give us a – smile, Beast Boy – hard time, Robin," Wonder Girl replied, as she wrapped an arm around my shoulder and smiled toward the cameras flashing around us. Give the public a couple of cheesy smiles and you have them eating out of the palm of your hand for a few minutes. Your face ends up hurting a little from smiling so much, but it's better than having the photogs take pictures of you at two in the morning, drunk out of your mind and being pulled into a van with padded walls so you won't hurt yourself.

"Let's take off. No interviews. Cyborg and I are leaving in the T-Car, we'll meet you three back at school," was all we heard as the cameras continued to flash. Public attention only goes so far.

"Let's hit the skies!"

"Finally," I heard Raven mutter before she followed.

One more wave and smile won't – damn, wedgie! "Alright, alright, Raven! I'm coming. Jeeze."

Rae loves when I change. "It's the only time you ever shut up," she had told me when I asked why. Most of the time, it's easy to think of these powers as gifts. I can change into any animal on this planet, and even some of Tamaran's, animal kingdom. It can also be a curse and there are setbacks that come with those curses.

Rae apologized when she realized why I didn't snipe back at her like I usually do. She said my guilt and sadness were flooding out and she tapped into my mind accidently…don't really mind if she did it on purpose really, as long as she knows how I feel about not being able to talk when I morph.

Flying would be a whole lot more fun without all the flapping! This is why, no matter what bird I turn into, I still can't travel long distances like them or really only have the complete speed of a cheetah or rhino for such a short amount of time. Even at peak physical condition, I can't really keep up with the powers for that long. And with all of the flipping and sliding and junk, I'm gonna be sore for a while.

Maybe I'll turn on my Gamebox 400 and just beat the snot out of some kid on the other side of the world at Space Monkey Shooters 13 for a few hours.

"You're forgetting the pyramid project we have for history class," Raven reminded me. I tried to let out a yell of surprise but it just came out as a loud squawk, causing her to plug her ears with her fingers. I hate when she gets in my head like that.

"You're not the only one who hates being in your head," she told me over the wind. "Pyramid project."

So…?

"It's due Monday, Gar."

Beast Boy, Rachel, and its Friday. We got out of our last two periods and the last thing I want to think about right now is some stupid project that's only due Monday.

She slowly shook her head, her indigo eyes still on the sky ahead of us, while my bird head was tilted toward her. "Don't expect me to remind you again," she warned before speeding up and catching up with Donna.

I'll get it done.

…Eventually. I mean, how hard is it to write a four-page paper on the construction of Egypt's pyramids. As for the model, that's what sugar cubes are for!

Everybody's just gotta overcomplicate things!

When we first arrived at the school, _someone_ (whose name begins with a V and ends in –ictor Stone) decided it would be a good idea for Rachel and I to test out our powers on each other. I tried to rush her as a lion, she slammed me back with her…well, her controlling objects power. Then he had her practice her see-things-through-your-eyes power on me. Basically, she chants some mumbo-jumbo and mixes her mind with whomever she's trying to possess or whatever. Well…what ended up happening was she ended up getting almost all of my memories and can now read my thoughts whenever she wants, or even when she doesn't want to. Not really sure if it can work the other way yet. Needless to say, she doesn't plan on using that power again, and I don't ever plan on volunteering for _anything_ ever again.

Cyborg still thinks of it all as a fun science project or something and even has us show up once every three months to see how close our wonderful mental connection is.

It is _so_ much fun waking up at five in the morning some days and wondering if I can finish that riveting fantasy novel without Gar ruining my day. Wait a minute, I then think, _I_ am Gar!

Basically, we have a two-way telepathic connection that neither of us knows how to control.

I squawk again out of annoyance. I hate days like those.

The moment I spotted the giant T lying on the green grass below, I swooped down and changed back to normal. Man, my arms hurt. Next time I'm driving back with Vic. Forget the extra exercise after fighting some blockhead giant and the training room practice we had at freakin' five AM.

My feet touched the grass for, like, two seconds before Donna grabbed me and lifted me back up. "We've got debriefing with the Headmaster, remember?"

Crap.

The guy's like Charlie from Charlie's Angels, only we don't even get to see the back of his head. Just the stupid speaker. If the Titans are the Angels, then whose the viewer?

She flew me to the garage before landing herself. Raven was already waiting there with the doors opened for us. We turned to the shadowy back corner where an elevator was hidden from view. It slid open when we were a few paces from it (still very creepy) and the bright light from inside lit the corner. We walked straight in and turned just as the doors closed.

I've been trying to convince Vic or Karen to install the theme from the Twilight Zone for the short ride since I first found out about this thing.

"Stop humming that stupid song," Rachel warned me with a sharp glare as the doors opened to the Titans Prep Facility.

T.F.P.

We need cooler acronyms.

"You three made it just in time," Robin announced as he took his seat, his mask still in place. Cy was already on his laptop working on something. "Headmaster will be calling in a few seconds for debrief on our fight with Cinderblock and the others should be coming down in fifteen for our weekly meeting."

Ugh. Bye-bye video games. I took my seat with a heavy sigh and burrowed my head into my arms. Some shut-eye would be good right now. Been up since four-thirty this morning and I really don't have much to say in these long meetings anyway. It's mostly technical mumbo jumbo and we've been talking about that ship Kory brought everyone back in a few weeks ago. Vic and Karen have been gutting it out and trying to upgrade the system to something all of us (not just Kory) can understand and use for deep space missions and such. How often we'll actually get to use the thing I don't know, but Vic's in love with that super engine. He's been working on a new one that can be adapted for the T-Car and the T-Ship.

Last week they were gushing about the sensors built into the ships metal shell that nullified any radar and sensory systems that could detect its approach. Explains why we didn't know about Kory's ex-fiancée until we saw the smoke on our way back home. Still, it's no wonder she didn't marry the guy? He can't even land a freakin ship correctly. Crashed it right into the dirt. When we got back, Kory's landing was nice and smooth. She's a hell of a lot better at flying the damn thing than Karen was!

'Course it was a bigger ship and Karen and Vic did have to try and repair the piece of junk we crashed in the wilderness of Tamaran, but still…

"C'mon Gar, get up," I heard from above me as I felt someone sharply tapping my shoulder. Drifted off there. Roy was standing above me holding a red v-neck sweater in each hand. "Put this on and don't ask why," he told me as he dropped one of the sweaters on my head.

"Red's not really my…color…" what the hell was going on here? Everyone was slipping the stupid sweaters on.

"Boy just put it on before Wally shows," Karen chided me quickly. When did she even get here? How long have I been out of it?

Whoa, wait…

We're pulling a joke on Wally?

I shoved the extra large sweater over my head and sat back down, my eyes at the elevator doors. No idea what went down while we were gone, but I'm loving it already. Hell, somehow Roy even got Rachel to at least wrap the arms of the sweater over her shoulders!

The elevator doors slid open quietly and in stepped Wally, wearing the exact same sweaters we all had on, a pair of slacks, and some shiny dress shoes. His hair was slicked back with lots of gel (which he probably snagged from Roy), only Roy somehow made his brush cut look good while Wally's hair was longer and now looked glued in place. He was also wearing a white collared shirt and – ohmygod – he was wearing a tie.

"Hey guys, does this sweater…?" he started slowly, staring down at some imaginary lint of something. When he looked up at us we all grinned.

"Looks perfect Wally," Vic answered with a wide grin.

"Yeah, dude, makes your hips look nice and round," I added with my own toothy smile.

"Gives you a nice little beer belly," Karen joked along.

"Can't forget the awesome love handles," Rachel added with her own wonderful sarcastic flare. I only love it when it's not directed at me.

Before anyone else could say anything he flung the sweater off at super speed and turned back to the elevator. "Alright, I get it. I'll change."

"You really need to fix that hair too," Donna added gently.

"Where are you going anyway?" I asked. Seriously, he couldn't be planning on going to church or something. Not to say he doesn't believe or anything, that's really his own business.

"I'm meeting my girlfriend's parents," he muttered slowly, "and obviously I still can't find something decent to wear."

"It's not that you don't look decent, Wally, that sweater was just too big for you. Especially with the way it stretched at the bottom," Kory told him kindly. Of course the girls are gonna offer to play dress up.

"Yeah, Kid, it's a sweater, not a hoodie," Karen continued, as she pulled off the extra large sweater Roy had given her. "Maybe I can shrink it in the wash real quick so it'll fit better. Kory, Donna, you both gotta do something about his hair before all that gel he used causes it to fall out."

What is it with girls and playing dress up? I really don't understand how they think it can be so much fun.

"What if you shrink it too much?" Wally asked, his hands fidgeting around wildly.

"Dick's got a nice looking red vest from when he worked as a valet the Chemele Hotel last summer," Kory offered.

Karen looked thoughtful for a moment, trying to recall what the vest looked like. "Where are you going to meet them?"

"Herhouse," he answered quickly.

"Going out to dinner anywhere?"

"Ihavenoidea."

"You're really helping us out here, aren't ya?"

"Wannahurry? Thedatestartsin-!" Donna clapped a hand over his mouth.

"You're talking way too fast Wally. You've got to calm down. It's just a date," she told him gently, setting her hands on top of his own to try and keep him from fidgeting so much.

"I've got ten minutes!"

"What?"

"Well then why didn't you say so sooner?" Karen exploded, marching up to and pushing him back to the elevator with Kory and Donna in tow. "We've got _way_ too much work to do in such a short amount of time. You've gotta wash that junk out of your hair or by the time you end up there you'll be bald! If there's any left, we'll slip a dab in before you speed off, now about…"

The elevator doors slid closed behind the four of them, quietly cutting Karen's voice off from the rest of us.

"This is actually pretty nice," I heard Vic suddenly mutter and glanced over to see him inspecting the double XL sweater he was wearing, "The material's really soft. And it fits snug like it's supposed to."

"Uh…you can keep it if you want," Roy hesitantly told him, taking his seat at the table, "Bobby snagged 'em for me about an hour ago. Didn't bother asking where he got 'em."

Bobby Thomas is a short-range teleporter and "former" thief. He's fourteen like Rae and me and his room is always filled with the best stuff. His roommate disappeared six months ago after reporting Bobby to some teachers about him stealing the stuff. Somehow, he didn't get kicked out and even though he's technically not allowed off school grounds, no one can really stop him from using his powers unless he's been caught.

"So guys, I was thinking we should head up to Colorado for winter break this year," Roy started and my ears perked up like a dogs in interest. "A buddy of mine told me about these cottages that can be rented out in the mountains. The six of us, if the girls are interested, can pull our money together and rent a large cottage and spend two weeks on the slopes!"

"How do'ya figure we can all afford that, Roy?" Vic sounded skeptical. "With our savings, we'd probably be able to only afford an outhouse for two weeks."

"No, I got it covered. The six of us each pitch in a hundred bucks, I can get us an awesome three-story cottage with a big kitchen and living room, fully furnished, and, although I'm sure at least you can Karen will be sharing Vic, six well-sized bedrooms on the top two floors. Each floor also has an nice old fashion fireplace and everything!"

"Let me guess," Dick cut in, "_Bobby_ can hook you up."

Roy chuckled. "Fuck no. For that we'd probably be able to stay for free before being arrested for breaking and entering what we would _have to_ think is an empty building.

"My boss has been renting it every year for however many years it is now. He and a bunch of his and his wife's friends usually stay and party during the break or something, but they can't this year 'cause of some little family reunion thing they got hooked into already. It's already paid for, and none of his friends plan on using it – don't know why – and he offered to let me take it for his share of the rent, which is six hundred. If Karen, Kory, Donna, and the three of us can pull it together, we get two full weeks of fresh powder and a nice white Christmas! And if we file for vacation time now, there's no way the school can deny letting us go, and Kory will definitely be off her suspension by that time."

"There are a few other things to think about Roy…" Dick trailed off. Yeah, dude, Donna's gotta file some stupid government reports and crap every week or something. Still don't really understand that bull, but…

"I know. Let me handle Donna's situation with the feds-" Wait, he knows? "Look, this is a big opportunity here! How often do we get to leave the area without being on official Titans business? We're at this school all year round! And since the six of us are over the schools age limit, we are _allowed_ to at least file for city-leave for a while. It's a two-week _vacation_! Can either of you even remember going on vacation as a kid? During summer break? Spring break? Ever? 'Cause I've never been on vacation! It'll be fun to get away without having to worry about hero-stuff for a while."

The one thing I don't like about this school is all of the weird rules. Basically, anyone over sixteen who has a license can file for vacation time like they can with jobs or something. It's like they're treated like legal adults! Obviously, this counts Rachel and I out of the fun! But the school is still like a parent that can punish you and take away privileges whenever they want.

Like Kory's three month suspension! Obviously when she left, she wasn't planning on coming back. She was gonna be a Queen! Then she finds a loophole, comes back with us, and isn't allowed to leave school grounds for skipping school for a few days!

How is that fair? And she just accepted it like it was no big deal! Like she deserved it or something. Titans duty limited strictly to training sessions, no powers use other than in training sessions (and since she's so sweet and follows all the rules, of course she's not going to use her powers since they forbade it), and no trips to the city; she has to stay on school grounds.

…maybe Kory's a bad example. I really don't understand her. She's sweet and beautiful and can be a little scary with how freakishly strong and powerful she is, but…I just don't understand how her mind works.

Roy ended up getting suspended for six months last year for some reason after he came back from a Purple Dragon concert he had already filed with the school for. Six months! And the school knew in advance that he was going and wasn't going to be back until early morning. Even Vic went to pick him up afterwards and for some reason he still was suspended with pretty much the same rules Kory's got.

Just doesn't make any sense and really doesn't seem worth the hassle to leave anyway.

What's…? Wow. This sweater really is soft. I wonder if Karen can shrink this one down to fit me. Or maybe Bobby can…?

_Will you stop playing with that stupid sweater?_

Stay out of my head, Rae.

_Not like I can really control it, Gar. And it's Rachel._

Is this meeting over yet?

_Since they're talking about that ski trip now, I'm guessing yes._

Sweet. Gamebox here I come. I wonder if Vic wants to play Space Monkey Shooters 13 with me. "Hey, Vic, we're gonna head up. Wanna play Space Monkey Shooters with me? I'm gonna rip some kids apart around the world."

He smirked before shaking his big baldhead at me. "Sorry Gar, I gotta work on the engine. If you were paying attention instead of drooling on your arm, you'd know that it's gonna be ready for testing soon."

"Awe sweet! Can I-"

"No!" The room seemed to echo and I took a step back at the sharp reaction from everyone. Definitely not the group of people I'd considered yellers but…

"Fine. But I'm keeping the sweater!"

A/N: I am so sorry for the long wait! I've been very busy over the past few months and so writing has pretty much taken a backseat to everything else. I'm not sure when I'll have the next chapter up (which begins a new story arc) but I hope it will be soon since I've got tomorrow and the weekend off. Until then, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. It still seems a little forced and rushed to me, but it's also something to post, so... let me know what you think.

Happy New Years! See you all in 2010!


	11. Jungle Fever Part I

Disclaimer: See chapter one.

This chapter is set in Gar Logan's (Beast Boy's) POV.

Jungle Fever: Part I

Nothing's better in life than a laugh. Seriously. I know the saying is, "If you don't laugh, eat pie," or something like that (okay, so I know it' not that, but I enjoy pie more, so…) but a joke can be so good, it'll make you cry. I haven't told one like that yet, but it's a goal.

Yeah, I've got goals. And I'm building a super awesome scooter. (The scooter's not on the list, but totally worth mentioning).

Right now, I'm working on getting a giggle – at least – out of Rachel. She's in need of some serious fun. I know she's not supposed to…feel anything, for some reason that she doesn't like to explain, but you just can't go through life not feeling anything. I should know, I tried for, like, two seconds after my parents died.

"Don't start," she told me as I plopped onto the couch, right next to her.

"Start what? The-"

"No. Don't. Start. I've had a very bad day, and if you want to help, don't open your mouth." She doesn't mean it. "I mean it."

"What's up, Rae? Salad head?" Wally asked, slipping between us.

"Shh! Be vewy, vewy qwiet. Waven's mad," I joked, getting a chuckle out of Wally while Raven just snapper her book shut and stood up to leave the common room. "Oh come on! Elmer Fudd! You telling me you don't like Elmer Fudd?"

Wally just shrugged and turned his attention to the TV. "Really touchy today, huh?"

"Must be that time of the month, y'know?"

"Uh huh. Wanna hang out tonight?"

I grinned. "Definitely. Arcade?"

"Then pizza."

"Then movies."

We bumped fists as the bell rang. Less than a minute later, the common room was filled with more students, including Dick and Donna. "Yo, we're going into the city tonight. You guys want to come?" I asked them as a slimy freshman tried to snatch the remote away from Wally. Literally, she was made of blue slime. The kind that you can't get out of your clothes no matter how many times you wash them.

"You can't," Dick replied shortly, arms folded across his chest as he glared down at us.

"Uh…" I glanced at Wally who looked just as confused as I felt, and already had thick blue goo on his cheek. "What's up?"

Donna smiled and shook her head as she turned to the pool table and started setting up a game. Dick just kept glaring down at us with those steely blue eyes of his. You think it'd be better when he's wearing his shades or a mask over them, but it's really not. Seeing his eyes actually made it less intense. "Both of you put your communicators on silent again, didn't you?"

"Shit! Professor Ivo makes us turn off our phones and communicators in class, dude." Poor excuse, I know, but Dick's not a fan of any excuse anyway. Would've just been better off saying "sorry" and "it'll never happen again."

"Just get down to the meeting room. I need you to debrief us on someone."

Wait. Me? "Why me?"

"Because you're familiar with the Sakutia virus. Both of you, downstairs, ten minutes ago. Make sure Rachel knows too, in case she forgot to turn her communicator back on."

The Sakutia virus… Holy- "Gar!" I jumped as Donna snapped her fingers in front of my face. "Are you okay?"

"Uh, yeah. Yeah. Cool. Ice cold. Why?"

Donna wasn't convinced, but she was kind enough to pretend. "You've been standing here for five minutes."

Crap. "Gotta go! I've got debriefing to do!" I added a grin before turning into some bird and taking off out of the common room.

When I finally got to the meeting room, Rachel, Vic, Wally, and Dick were already sitting at the table, waiting for me. "Sorry," I apologized again, taking my seat as fast as I could. "Sooo. What am I doing?"

"Take a breath, Gar," Dick calmly ordered before nodding toward Vic.

After I inhaled, Vic started, "We've been picking up intel that someone named Professor Donaldson is apparently experimenting with the Sakutia virus, somewhere in the jungles of South Africa. We think he's starting to experiment on humans." A holographic map of the area popped up in the center of the table and Vic stood and motioned toward it. "A large number of bodies have been popping up in this area, along the river. We have to assume they're being dumped upstream.

"From local reports, it doesn't look like he has been able to recreate the virus in full effect, but the victims died of brain hemorrhaging and heart attacks. They also had marks from needle injections in their arms, signs of struggle, and captivity."

"Your mission is to find Professor Donaldson's lab, destroy his work, and bring him to international authorities so he can be placed in a maximum security prison," Dick told us in his usual style – short, sweet, and to the point. "Gar's on point."

…What?

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" I heard Rachel ask from…somewhere. Seriously, I felt like I was lost in space or something.

"He's the one with the most knowledge and experience on this matter. It's basically his backyard. He's on point." If this was anything else…well, I probably wouldn't be in charge right now.

"Give me a few minutes with him. You guys go get changed. You can leave in fifteen."

It was only a couple of years ago. Feels like twenty lifetimes…

"Yo, little dude," Vic called to me as he slapped me on the back, "this is your chance, buddy. Clear your head. This is now, you know?"

"No, dude, not even a little bit. In fact, you kind of suck at this."

He rolled his…eye. The good one that actually rolls. The other one just kind of blinks when the bulb goes bad. "Alright. Remember how you felt before your parents saved you from that virus? This nut could kill millions of people and you're probably the only one in the world who knows how to stop this."

"Or start it again." The monkey that bit me when I was seven was killed by my dad after he and mom cured me. Dad saw all the pain I'd been in and didn't want anyone else to suffer from it too, even if it was everything they were looking for. The link between primate and man. They stopped the virus from killing me, but it's technically still inside me. It's why I've got green hair and skin and have the entire animal kingdom at my fingertips. "I get caught by this total whack job, and it's not an "if" but "when," the virus will get released."

"And that's why Rae and Wally are going with you. You aren't going in alone. You're just…showing them the way."

Anything else – _anything_ – and I'd have jumped out of my chair, thrown on my uniform, and been all, "Beam us out, Raven!" like Captain Kurtis in Trek Wars: Deep, Deep Space.

Instead, I got changed quietly in the locker room, before looking in the mirror and working on my smile. Man, have I ever needed a laugh.

Cause if you don't laugh, you cry.

Or eat pie. I really, really love pie.

A/N: It has been a very long time since I've updated this story. So long, in fact, that I forgot where I was going with it. Oh well, it may help me or it may hurt me. I know this chapter isn't as long as the others, the next few won't be either. I have to get back into the groove and find the character's voices again, but I'm sure once I hit my stride the chapter's will get longer.

I'm hoping to update this story once a week right now, so be on the lookout for updates. I'm still using my profile as a schedule, so check it out to see when I plan on updating.

Hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Please review!


	12. Date Night Part I

Disclaimer: See chapter one.

This chapter is set in Dick Grayson's (Robin's) POV.

Date Night: Part I

Gar, Rachel and Wally are on a mission in South Africa. The job required a small team, and the three of them need more experience on their own. It was also a job right in Gar's wheelhouse – a perfect chance for him to prove himself to the Headmaster, who has been less than thrilled at his attitude. My words of defense were beginning to fall on deaf ears when this mission came along. Now it's in his hands.

If I didn't think they could do it, I never would have even briefed them. Still, that leaves the rest of us with a lot of time on our hands at the moment.

"There's twenty-three movies now, and I still say the best Bond is Pierce Brosnan," Roy said, setting the massive twenty-two movie collection on his desk table.

"Man, George Lazenby is such an underrated Bond," Vic countered, shaking the bag of microwave popcorn he'd just pulled out of our microwave. I'm happy he decided to join in. He's been a little out of it lately. More business then fun, which isn't usually his style.

"He was only in one movie," Roy pointed out as I unwrapped Skyfall.

"Which is why he's underrated."

"This is why we're watching the entire series this weekend," I reminded them, kneeling down to set up our Blu-ray player. "And the best Bond is the original. Nobody beats Sean Connery." They laughed at my horrible impersonation.

"Man, his movies are ancient."

"They're called classics, Roy, and he set the standard. Brosnan's got nothing on him."

"Bull. Shit. Teri Hatcher, Denise Richards, and – of course – the amazing Halle Berry. Case."

"Great choices but you're also forgetting Kim Basinger, Claudine Auger, and – Pussy Galore herself – Honor Blackman," I shot back.

"Whatever. True classics are so good, they never get remade. Bond movies get remade all the time." Vic and I agreed with him on that one as I slipped Dr. No into the player. "Alright! Been a while since we had a real guy's weekend. We watched the original Star Wars trilogy last year, right?"

I nodded. "We watched it in Gar and Wally's room because we knew they'd be throwing popcorn the entire time. No way were we cleaning up after them."

"Which is why we're starting the marathon now," Vic continued, munching on the popcorn he'd poured into his large bowl, pouring snowcaps in to mix it up. "Now, let's get this show started."

While I jumped onto my bunk, Roy grabbed the remote and pressed play. As annoying as they can be, I do miss having Wally and Gar here. It's a Bro's weekend after all, but the whole reason we decided to have the marathon this weekend was to get our minds off Rachel, Gar and Wally and whatever trouble they're getting themselves into. There's no "might be". Trouble follows all of us and there's no doubt it found them.

So, Roy suggested a few hours ago to start that Bond marathon we'd been talking about for the past few months. The girl's sounded busy, Roy canceled some date he had later, we went out and bought enough snacks to feed an army, and now we are primed for the perfect weekend.

There's nothing better than taking some time for yourself, step away from everything that's going on in your life and just forget it for a few hours, if you have the time. It's even better when you do it with you best friends.

The training teaches us how we all operate. What each of us is capable of. Nights like this, teach us about each other. Likes, dislikes; who we are outside the powers and uniforms. They create real bonding moments and inside jokes and moments we can look back and laugh at without regret. It helps us trust each other more in the training room and outside in the field.

It's also what makes us more than just teammates. We're friends.

Just as the theme music started up, there was a knock on our door. We ignored it.

Mistake number one.

The knocking continued, followed by Karen's familiar call, "I know you're in there, Sparky. You better open this damn door. Roy and Dick can't hide you forever."

Roy paused the movie and glared at Vic from his desk chair, mouthing, "What the hell did you do?" Vic just shrugged in confusion.

"Victor Stone, you break our date and I'll kick your ass. You got ten minutes to get your metal hide to the common room, or I come back up here to take out three morons."

Vic cursed under his breath as he scrambled to his feet. "I forgot. Karen!" He yanked open the door, only to see she was gone, as Roy and I shook our heads.

"No way you can cancel on her now, buddy," I told him, trying to hide my smile as Roy made whipping sounds. "Anyone else, I'd die for you, but you're on your own with Karen."

Roy laughed and shook his head. "Same, man. Besides, I at least remembered to cancel my date tonight. And she wasn't even close to being my girlfriend."

"I'll catch up with you guys later tonight. I'll miss two movies at most," Vic calculated as he started out the door. He stopped suddenly and looked back with a smile. "Looks like I won't be the only one. Good luck, Dick."

…Kory and I didn't have anything planned for the night. I would've remembered.

Glancing at Roy, I saw him staring at me, poised to ask the question when Kory knocked on our open door with her usual sunny smile. "Hi guys! Either of you up for a sparring session? I know you had the movie thing planned, but Donna and Karen are both going out and this suspension is making me very…restless."

From his chair, Roy wagged his dark red eyebrows and teased, "Hear that, Dick? You're beautiful girlfriend's restless. I think it might be a good idea to tend to her needs." Then he mouthed, "Naughty," and grinned.

Thankfully, Kory's suspension is nearly over. I'm sure she'll be over the moon excited when she can finally get her feet off the ground and take off into the sky again. It's tough being grounded here in the school, stuck with classrooms and homework and not really allowed to do much else while your friends are constantly on the move, risking life and limb. Roy knows a lot about that.

Still, she's more than restless. She's full of energy. Her body's basically a giant solar battery and none of us are sure what her maximum capacity is, but she's been doing nothing but soaking up sunshine over the past few months. I'm not entirely sure how she's been able to hold back on her powers so well, the most she's done – according to Donna – is unknowingly floating in her sleep. I'm not reporting on that.

Looking between him and Kory it was really no contest. "Hold off for a few hours?" I asked, already knowing his answer.

He smirked. "Not a chance, Boy Wonder. You have your fun and I have mine." He paused. "Naughty." He started saying that when Kory and Donna were confused about why he was laughing like a jackass whenever someone said anything that could be taken as a double entendre. I should correct myself; anything _he_ could take as a double entendre.

He tends to say it at least two to three hundred times a day. At least.

"Fine. Just try to wait on Goldfinger. It's my favorite Connery film."

"You've got as long as the first two movies take and, honestly, right now you're buying Vic more time to see it than yourself."

"Dick, you don't have to-"

"It's no big deal, Kory, really." Roy likes to skip the end credits, which time at ten minutes on average, which puts Dr. No and From Russia With Love closer to ninety minutes apiece. "For you, I've got all the time in the world, Baby." Three hours.

Kory, being as smart as she is beautiful, glanced over my shoulder at Roy. "Time check?"

"Three hours. Starting…now," our archer answered, pressing play without another moment of hesitation.

"Thank you, Roy."

"Not a problem, Goldie."

My brows furrowed as we walked out the door. "Why are you thanking him? I'm the one that's going to train with you."

"Yes, but he was the one that was completely honest with me." She gently tugged my hand. "Let's go. I've got a lot of frustration to work off and a short time to do it."

…Naughty.

Dammit Roy!

A/N: And while Gar, Rachel, and Wally are gone, the rest of the Titans are going to have a little fun of their own. Next chapter we'll see what BB, Rae, and Kid Flash are up to! Until then, thanks for reading.

Please review!


	13. Jungle Fever Part II

Disclaimer: See chapter one.

This chapter is set in Rachel Roth's (Raven's) POV.

Jungle Fever: Part II

I never noticed how much Gar hides behind this…persona of his. The prankster, the joker, my personal annoyance. Especially since our little…mind meld, as he likes to think of it. He often forgets how I'm always in his head, able to read his every thought, feel his emotions when they flare, like they did at Dick's mention of Sakutia.

I have an idea of what he went through a few years ago, when he was seven. When I first used my powers to enter his mind, I saw moments of his pain and anguish, and how he forced them aside and remained optimistic, despite every nasty turn in his life, until now, when it had seemed like nothing more than a nightmare. One that he no longer had to strive to pretend didn't exist because he felt he had been at peace with it all.

He's no longer at peace with any of it.

Seven years, and it's all come back to haunt him.

Still, he remains a great actor, bantering with Wally and giving people a toothy smile as we travel through South Africa, searching for our fugitive. Providing a false confidence when deep down, he has no clue what to do or how to do this without becoming another victim. A pawn in this lost man's scheme.

And that is what this Professor Donaldson is. Lost as many great scientists become. Starting out with a goal to do great good, and the closer you get to it, the more you begin to lose yourself. Forget who you are and what you really wanted to do all this for. The goal becomes twisted and vial and before you know it, you're giving yourself excuses. "I'm doing this _for_ humanity! For science! For _the World_!" I've heard plenty cry out in my short time on the team.

I've reached out and felt their lost souls crying out – what little is left of them. Few no longer had their souls. They'd become black holes of internal devastation.

While Gar pretends to remain the optimist, I remain the pessimist, because this job sucks. Gar's scared out of his mind. I hate bugs, which this jungle is full of. And, in case I forgot to mention, this job sucks.

I never should have left Azarath, but those visions just wouldn't stop. Now that I'm here on Earth, they've calmed. Settled. Now, they've disappeared, but the pit of my stomach is still churning and my feelings are becoming much harder to control on this plane then they ever did at the temple.

"This sucks," Kid Flash groaned, restlessly. "Can't we move a _little_ faster?" He even pinched his fingers closer together to help Beast Boy visualize how much faster he wanted to move.

"Dude, if you want to fall into another snake pit, be my guest," Beast Boy smiled, though it wasn't nearly as bright as it usually was. It was tight and forced and didn't reach his dark green eyes.

It's not very helpful, him feeling this way.

Complete honesty right now, his personality soothes me. I don't know why, but ever since our mind merge a few years ago, it feels like…he's my other half. I also find that more annoying than anything else, even his lame jokes, because I don't need another half. I'm the daughter of an inter-dimensional demon. That's bad enough. No need to drag Gar into it.

"Beast Boy," I called out to him, trying to avoid the animal poop he was naming mentally to try and keep his mind preoccupied, "We've spent hours walking along this river and still haven't found anything."

"Plus, it's starting to get dark. And a little cold here by the water," Kid agreed, pulling a packet of M&M's from the snack bag around his shoulder. Those weren't going to last long.

Wally needs to eat to keep his energy up. His body breaks down solid food in minutes – not hours. For long distance missions, he carries a messenger bag full of sugary snacks that make him very jumpy and break down faster than all other foods he eats. He's ten times as fast, and a hundred times as annoying after eating them because he can't stop moving or talking so fast that no one can decipher what he's saying. The boost in speed doesn't last as long either, but it comes in handy as long as he times it correctly.

"Save that," I told him, levitating the "fun-size" bag out of his hands. He sighed, rolled his eyes and kicked at the dirt (that may or may not have actually been dirt). "You've had two dozen already."

"I'm hungry! It's not my fault I have a fast metabolism."

"No, but it is your fault you haven't gotten it under control yet."

"Quiet," Gar whispered, then changed into a tiny monkey and took off into the trees.

Kid Flash shuffled closer to me as he swatted the air. "Are there supposed to be more or less bugs at night?"

Like I know. "Ask Beast Boy. This is supposed to be his…area of expertise." Is he _thinking_ like a monkey? I hate when he goes full animal. It…worries me. It takes some time after to return to his usual mindset. He maintains the animal characteristics for hours at a time afterwards. Scratching and sniffing and grunting. Picking this out of other people's hair and nearly eating it if I hadn't slapped his head.

Gross didn't even begin to describe that one.

When he dropped back to the ground between us, he'd already changed back and seemed…normal. As normal as he could be in this situation. "Two miles north," he reported, "there's a man-made building that apparently disappears when other people stop by."

"Oh! Like with light refractors, right? Make it invisible with the flip of a switch?" Wally guessed, swatting his cheek. "Or – or, it could be hard light holographics that they can turn on also. That would give the "building" a real feel, y'know? Make people believe that they're seeing and feeling real trees and dirt and – ow! – bugs, if they're programmed in."

"Why would they need to program the bugs in? There are plenty flying around here," I told him, before waving my arms and enclosing us in a force field to keep the annoying blood suckers away.

Gar's eyes narrowed. "That could be our clue," he grinned. Genuinely, for the first time in days. "Professor Donaldson is going to want to keep his work area clear of any and all outside distractions and anything that could affect his experiments and keep them from being consistent.

"Each experiment has to be consistent, if he wants to prove his theory. He takes the same subject, same blood type, same…everything, as much as he can, and sorts them into groups. He could have two hundred different versions of the virus produced, batches of ten or twenty maybe, until he can find one that looks promising. The only thing that changes is the batch of virus. Everything else has to stay the same." He turned to me. "Those bodies, what'd they have in common?"

I pulled out my tablet and opened the file with all the information Vic had loaded on it. Then I began sort through it, trying to find matches among the large group. "Okay, it's a small number, but they were all around 5'8", in the range of one hundred and one hundred and twenty-five pounds, male, B-Positive blood type, varying ages."

Beast Boy snapped his fingers. "Okay, Wally, run to the villages along the road and see if anyone's been going around talking to guys that fit that criteria. It's probably going to be a group, since the people we've talked to haven't seen Donaldson in nearly a year, since he first came here and began his research. He's probably hired out mercs or something to scout out his targets and steal them away." He turned his attention to me, feeling anxious and excited, but fear still clouded him. "Bug zappers. Where he's hiding, he's probably going to have plenty, so we have to find an area with few to no bugs, if he is hiding his location like we think he is. We find it, scout it out, and make sure that's our place before we move in."

"Okay…what do I do after I warn the villages?" Wally brought up, running a hand through his bright red hair.

Gar hadn't thought that far ahead. "Umm…stay with them. Stay on the lookout and keep in touch. You see anyone matching our victim's physical descriptions, keep an eye on them. Keeping people safe is always our first priority, right?" He glanced between us, clearly unsure. "Right. So, let's move!"

"With the sun down?" I questioned. It was hard enough not getting lost around here in the day. Plus there was that snake pit Wally had run into earlier on this trip. And that hunter's trap he'd tripped up near the fourth village.

Right now it seemed more likely the elements would kill us than this virus or its maker would.

The façade was back in seconds, with his strained smile and false bravado. "Rae, you're rolling with me! We'll be fine. Dude," he clapped Wally on the back, "maybe you should follow the GPS back to the coordinates of my old village. Don't want you getting trapped for breakfast again." I may have smirked at that.

"Ha. Ha. I've got this," Wally assured us, snatching the bag of M&M's I took from him earlier in a blur. "I just follow the river, like we've been doing, and I'll be fine."

"You're sure?"

"Positive."

"Uh-huh. Don't call us when you run into a tiger."

"I run into a tiger, I'll just run circles around it and confuse it like in those cartoons. I'm way faster, anyway. Check it." And with that he, blurred right into my force field and knocked himself out.

"Wow. I was just blown away by that level of awesomeness." I'm snarky. I'm okay with it.

Besides, Gar laughed, which was actually…nice to hear.

We had to sit and wait an hour before Wally woke up and healed from the force of his crash. Gar insisted on continuing on instead of making camp. He's trying to think like Dick. All logic. The problem with that is, he doesn't know how much emotion Dick puts into his decision-making. It never seems like he puts any in, that it's the mission first, but we're all always on his mind.

Dick wouldn't have put Gar in charge if he didn't think he could handle it, which was why I kept my mouth shut and didn't question it. The longer this has gone on, the more I'm doubting it. Gar's more all over the place than he usually is and in control of his emotions. Mostly his fear.

He's trying to fight it. Break through, but its grip only tightens.

"Perhaps it would be good for you to mediate while we scout our enemy," I suggested as we floated on over the river, using my powers to keep us above the trees so we could close our two mile gap more swiftly.

He groaned in return. "Nah. Every time I try to do that I just fall asleep."

"Your snores would probably make our target aware of our presence."

He smirked. "Full of jokes tonight, Rae. I like it! You should totally let loose more often."

"You should hold your feelings back less. Surprisingly, you work much better when you do."

"Do what? Hold my feelings back?"

"When you don't?"

"But you just said I do."

I rolled my eyes at his game. It was too late and I'd had too little sleep to continue playing. "This isn't a game, Gar. No matter how much you like to treat it that way."

"We're super heroes. We're the coolest people on the planet. What's wrong with enjoying it while you can? You waste all your time being serious, you're going to live with more regrets than you can count."

"I regret being born. There is no greater regret than that."

"Wow. Dark, Raven. Dark. Course, it'd be totally weird if you went all rainbows and butterflies on me, but still…" he trailed off as I set our feet back on the ground and we continued on in silence.

Mentally, I chanted to myself to help keep myself calm and separate my emotions from Gar's. He doesn't understand how much this connection between us can affect me. Especially during times like this. It took nearly a year before I was able to keep my powers from blowing out street lamps in the middle of battle, and it was months before I could be in the same room with him again for long periods of time.

It was like starting over again. Learning to control my every emotion and separate it from myself, only I was learning to control his. To push his aside and remind myself that they are – actually – separate from my own. He is the one who is happy, sad, anxious, scared, excited, etc. I'm a blank slate. I have to remain that way.

The more I feel, the more I feed my evil father, and the sooner he will arrive.

None of them are ready for him. I'm not ready for him. I've felt his evil grip me on occasion and it's like nothing else. It's taken everything I am to fight it back, shove it into the darkness, and afterwards I'm so weak that I sleep for days.

We found the camp a few hours before dawn. No advanced holographic science to hide it; just nature. The shack and "lab" was built and designed to blend with its surroundings, painted to match the leaves and trees without a hint of glass or brass to reveal its true nature.

Gar was right about the lack of bugs. He picked up the low scent of the zappers and bug spray. His next smart move, was actually to have us hide directly above the homemade house and in the foliage they used to hide themselves from view, that way we could see their movements but they couldn't see us.

Then we waited.

A/N: A chapter in Raven's POV. I have to say, this was really interesting to write, especially with the connection that I had given Gar and Rachel earlier in the story. Next chapter is the second part of Date Night, with Karen and Vic.

Until then, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please review!


	14. Date Night Part II

Disclaimer: See chapter one.

This chapter's set in Karen Beecher's (Bumblebee's) POV.

Date Night: Part II

It's been a while since Sparky and I have spent some time alone together. That didn't involve us working on the T-Car. Or the Tamaranian warp engine. Or—

It's been a _long_ time.

Needless to say, I'm not planning on letting him off the hook on date night. Especially if Vic can pull himself away from the lab for a stupid 007 marathon that he and the guys could have any weekend. No, he's not getting out of it that easy.

Vic and I have been together for a while now. Longer than anyone else on the team. Which means I know him better than anyone – and yeah, I'm including the great Dick Grayson on that list. For a guy who makes it his job to know everything about everybody – especially his teammates – he's been slacking lately when it comes to Vic. Maybe.

The public knows him as Cyborg. Half-machine, half-human. They're wrong. Vic's all heart and the most emotional guy on the team. The most emotional _person_ I've ever met. Even more than Kory and she can go from gumdrops and lollipops to righteous fury in less than two-point-five seconds.

When Vic's excited, he's jumping up and down with joy. You can't get him to sit still. He was doing it when he got his hand on the spaceship we brought back with us from Tamaran. When he's sad…he's a crier. You didn't hear that from me, though, it's not exactly something he's proud of. Happy; cheesy grin, all teeth. Hungry – he's always hungry. He can't stop eating or thinking about food.

The problem is, lately, he hasn't been himself.

It's been "work, work, work" all the time. Nearly twenty-four-seven. I have no idea why, I just know it's not something that's going away. It's been going on for months now and he thinks I haven't noticed.

I know him better than anyone. Including himself.

Vic clapped his hands together as he entered the garage, his holographic watch already turned on so no one would know he was the Titan's Cyborg. He always spends fifteen minutes staring at himself in the mirror when he turns it on and it takes him longer to pick out his clothes than me! "Ready to roll?"

"I've been ready, Sparky. As usual, I'm waiting on you. Keep working on the inner clock." I leaned up and pecked his lips. "And just so you know, we're not working on any of these cars. We're driving into town. There's a free concert in the park tonight."

He rubbed a large hand over the back of his shiny bald head and gave me this crappy look. "All night?" he asked, sheepishly, trying to get me to melt with those big grey eyes of his. Gar's got a better puppy-dog look than him. Course it helps he can turn himself into a real puppy.

He pouted at my glare. "Don't even bother. We've spent the past three date nights that we haven't skipped, working on that damn engine. Tonight, we're having fun. Be happy I'm not picking an expensive restaurant, either."

"Why would you pick an expensive place?"

"You don't think I don't like nice things?"

"I think you don't have expensive tastes." Point. Most money I spend per week is on music. Most electronics I make on my own, parts are cheaper than the damn equipment and I build my stuff to last. None of the crap that works great on the first day, and gives you hiccups a month later. When that happens to the other students, they come to me, and I'm the one that created the team's communicators, cell phones, listening devices, etc.

Vic and I work hand-in-hand most of the time. He's hardware, I'm software. We clashed at the beginning, because his designs for most of our electronics were crap and he was too proud to admit it, but eventually we gelled. We didn't really have a choice. Dick locked us in a room to solve a bomb problem and wouldn't let us out until we both arrived at a solution. After we saved North America, we ended up making out for a couple of hours and we've been together ever since.

Pretty sure Dick was happy we just waited until then.

Vic started the car and I selected a radio station and we started our short journey to Jump City in silence. I want to say it's weird for us, but the truth is, for the past few months, this has been the normal thing. Us, sitting in the car, not saying a single word.

"Maybe you've finally hit a…comfortable phase," Donna suggested when I mentioned it to her and Kory. The Amazon princess is too damn nice for her own good.

"We're not in a slump," I told her. "We've been comfortable with each other for a while now, so you're just trying to say we're in a rut without saying we're in a rut. And we're not in a rut. There's something going on with him."

Kory and Donna shared one of those looks, like they could read each other's minds – their extra super power – before looking back at me and shrugging. Donna didn't deny that she actually mean Vic and I were in a rut either, so that means I was right and she was trying to say Vic and I are in a rut. Which we're not.

"Maybe you should do something…out of character," Kory snapped her fingers and smiled, trying her best to be helpful. Sweetie, I know you and Dick have been in a relationship without actually being in a relationship for four years now, but you've both only been in an actual relationship – with each other – for three months (almost). And she's been suspended the whole time!

Yeah, it sounds bitchy. I'm in that kind of mood right now.

I told them, "Whatever," before I looked back down at my books, pretending to study and ignoring the worried looks they were sending me. Neither of them have had a relationship that's lasted more than six damn months. What do they know?

"Or you could talk to him about it?" Donna's always got to be the sensible one.

"Stop the car." I kept my gaze straight ahead as I spoke to him. "It's a free concert, it's already started, and it's not like we have reservations anywhere. Stop. The. Car."

He pulled over to the side of the road, shut off the engine and stared at me. "Alright. What's the problem?"

"You."

"Me?"

"Yeah, Victor Stone. You are the problem."

Vic and I have no problem getting right down to the issue. When it comes to each other, we may glare for a while, but there's never any words unsaid. We lay it out on the table, get it out of the way and make sure we understand each other. I know, I know. That sounds so mature! People should try it more often, 'cause it's sensible too.

"How am I the problem?" he actually had the nerve to ask me.

I'm sure my eyes widened a bit and I felt the muscles in my jaw twitch. "How? You're barely out of the lab, always working – the only real conversation we've had for the past three months have been about the warp engine! Before that came along, improvments on the T-Car and the T-Ship you wanted to get constructed, which I know we can do now that we have the engine, but still, it's not like we don't have time to do that. We've got all the time in the world, and you don't want to leave the school grounds.

"The only time you have left the grounds, for nearly six months, is for missions. You didn't even want to leave for Kory's birthday! I had to drag your ass out of here. So you tell me, what's on your mind, Sparky? Cause it's gotta be something big to take up this much of your time."

Vic looked genuinely confused at my words. "I haven't been that busy…" he muttered, clearly trying to call up records of what he'd been doing for the past few months with that computer brain of his. He's been using that a lot more too.

"If you have to go through your records, than you know I'm right, Sparky. All you're seeing in your head right now is anything work or school-related."

"Bee, I'm sorry. I had no idea."

"Well, that's what this whole conversation is about. So you can get the idea. Now, if you really want to have a Bro's weekend – if James Bond is more important than us – go ahead and turn the car around. But know that when you do, we're done. The end. Caput." Yeah, it's a guilt trip. So?

Vic looked at me like I was crazy. "You know that those movies aren't more important than us, Kare."

"No, I don't. Lately, everything has seemed more important than us and I'm sick of it." Opening the car door, I stepped out. I don't play games, Vic knows that. It's why he got out right behind me and started following me down the road.

"This is stupid, Karen."

"You said it, not me. Enjoy the movies, I'm going to the concert."

"I'm not going back to see some dumb movies! Yeah, I've been out of it lately, but I'm not that damn stupid. Now get back in the car, woman, so we can get to the park faster."

"Excuse me?" He did not.

"You heard me."

I stomped up to him and stared into his big grey eyes before we both dove in and started making out in the middle of the road. I've got a thing for his "commanding" voice, alright. It's a turn-on for me. And it's only his, because Dick's voice is set on "command" ninety percent of the time and there ain't no sparks there.

His lips were soft and warm and it took us a while to get back to the car, but neither of us was complaining. "So it's in the park right?" Vic asked as we broke away and he started the car.

"Huh?"

He grinned, that broad, cocky smile of his he got whenever he got me dazed. "The concert?"

"Forget the concert. Let's order takeout and head back to your room."

"I'm up for that!"

"No doubt."

We both broke out into laughter before he shut off the car again. The moon and stars were out and it was nice and quiet and while we weren't as far away from the school as I wanted us to be physically, but for the first time in months, we were both on the same planet. That's a big step up from a few hours ago.

I'm taking it as a win, okay? A win's a win.

A/N: Looks like Vic and Karen got some issues sorted. For the time being, anyway. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Thanks for reading. Please review!


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